What Lies Beneath
by rogueop452
Summary: Spoilers for Slither. Faye and Cassie didn't mean for anyone to get hurt when they tried to help Heather. But of course there would be repercussions. How could they not have known?
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 1

"He's really...gone," Melissa sobbed passionately after laying her head on Faye's shoulder. "How is that possible...I can't believe it...I don't understand."

"Me neither," Faye agreed, in somewhat of a daze herself. After everything that had recently happened, it seemed that her entire world was crumbling down around her. Still dealing with pangs of conscience over the role she'd played in Heather Barnes death, she'd just found out another woefully tragic impact of the suppression spell she had attempted to release her from with Cassie. Only minutes earlier, Diana had called her with the shattering news that Nick was dead. She'd ended the call abruptly to go do something...probably to have some kind of grief sex with Adam, Faye thought...leaving her with the heart wrenching task of telling Melissa.

As they sat on the grimy old beat up couch in their secret coven cabin in the middle of the woods, Melissa continued to sob in Faye's arms, unaware and uncaring that her tears were streaming down her face and, not only causing havoc with her mascara, but soaking through her best friend's shirt. Nick was dead. Neither one of them had wanted to believe it at first.

It was because of the demon, Faye concluded after relaying the message to Melissa in as gentle of a manner as was possible for her at the moment. She'd tried to answer all of Melissa's questions but Diana had been too vague with the information and she could only guess at what went wrong. Most likely, the agony of having something so dark and evil inside of him had been too much for Nick to bear. In a desperate attempt to get it out before it seized his mind and body completely, he'd torn through the woods like a bat out of hell and ended up accidentally drowning himself in the harbor after falling and hitting his head. Only being told by Diana that the police were ruling it an accidental drowning, Faye's theory as to the details behind Nick's death was pure speculation at this point and as such she decided against mentioning it to Melissa. Besides, the poor girl was having enough trouble coming to grips with her boyfriend's demise, let alone trying to imagine what he might have been going through minutes before he took his last breath.

"It's my fault," Melissa somehow managed to eke out before another shuddering sob wracked her body.

"What? No...Melissa..." Realizing that any theory she might have was not only a mute point, but a futile attempt on her part to make sense of Nicks death without any real hard and true facts to back it up, Faye shifted her efforts back to dutifully consoling her best friend. "None of this is your fault," she stated emphatically.

"Then whose fault was it that Nick got possessed by a demon if it wasn't mine?" Melissa gasped in obvious despair. Faye of course knew the answer, but she wasn't dumb enough to say it out loud. She'd never liked admitting to her mistakes and she certainly wasn't going to start now. She was sure once the first few stages of grief passed, Melissa would eventually come to the inevitable conclusion and take her vengeance by trying to wound her emotionally with name calling or pointless accusations...even though they might be deserved...but even so, for now it seemed her friends own imagined guilt was the source of her misery. But survivors guilt only lasted so long before a person went back to their old behavior. And Faye knew from experience how Melissa just loved to lord things over on her whenever she caught her doing something of a questionable nature. It wouldn't matter that for once her intentions had been good ones.

In order to provide a calm and soothing presence for Melissa, Faye buried any remorse she was feeling under a smooth and well controlled surface. How was she to know that the Latin words she'd chanted along with Cassie would awaken a demon trapped inside Heather that would subsequently end one of their lives. It was Cassie's Book of Shadow's not hers. If anyone was to blame for Nick's death, it was Cassie.

"You shouldn't think along those terms Melissa. Blame...placing responsibility on someone for Nicks death...you just...can't. Not now. It's too soon." Faye knew where the real blame for Nick's death would be assigned once Melissa had the wherewithal for further reflection. She also knew it would take some pretty hefty powers of persuasion on her part to make Melissa see things differently.

The old rusty springs in the brown vinyl couch squeaked under her weight as Faye shifted in her seat rather uncomfortably, not really looking forward to the ordeal ahead of her. Using a combination of potions, trickery and subterfuge to shift blame to others might not be a healthy practice, but Faye found it necessary at times in order to preserve friendships. And it was a necessary evil so to speak, considering her friends...the one's she could count on to be there for her...were getting scarcer than ever.

"But it's true," Melissa continued in a breathless, frantic tone. "I don't really remember much...but I think Nick was...trying to help me when..." Finally attempting to control her crying, several closely spaced hiccups naturally came, interrupting her before she could speak again.

As she waited for her to continue, Faye moved her arm a little and began rubbing small circles on Melissa's back, but paused the soothing rhythmic motion when she felt a sharp tug on the ring she had on her left index finger. Lifting her hand a bit from the fabric of Melissa's shirt, she tried to dislodge the large black onyx stone, but it felt like it was caught in the threads on the top portion of the knit blouse she was wearing. The fact that Nick had given her that ring as a Christmas present wasn't any kind of weird sign at all she told herself. She highly doubted he was trying to inflict some kind of payback of his own on her somehow, but it did make her wonder a bit about future possibilities. Nick was a witch who, at times, liked to dabble in the darker side of the occult, if there was any way he could get back at her from the grave, would he? Making small sacrifices to temporarily gain a little more power was easy and he'd become both terrified of it and fascinated by it as well. It was a fact that only she knew about him, because she'd done it too on occasion.

"...that thing was still inside me..." Melissa finally said and Faye mentally shook herself, deciding she was being ridiculously paranoid. "And I didn't mean to...but I infected him..."

_The thing was still inside her and she infected him_? Faye questioned inwardly a bit distractedly as she rocked her ring back and forth several times with her thumb. When it didn't immediately disentangle from the material on Melissa's shirt she grew frustrated and gave up trying. Quickly shifting her attention back to the more important matter of consoling her grief- stricken friend, she leaned into her hug and lifted her less encumbered hand up to softly stroke the tangles out of Melissa's long wavy locks. Pushing away the very scary memories when she was acting all Linda Blair earlier that night and they were forced to physically restrain her, Faye's eyebrows rose in slight surprise when Melissa reciprocated the move by snuggling more tightly into her body. Well this was new she thought.

Not accustomed to either receiving or showing physical displays of affection towards friends of the same sex, Faye was amazed at how comforting Melissa's arms felt around her. She bit down on her bottom lip at the first sign of trembling and closed her eyes tightly shut, willing herself not to give in to her feelings. After the gut wrenching phone call from Diana she'd been holding in her own tears because Melissa needed her. Sure she was tremendously sad that Nick was dead, and of course she was more than a bit trepidatious about the repercussions of his death, especially now that their Circle was no longer complete, but it wouldn't do to have the both of them acting all emotional. On a night such as this, one of them at least needed to be strong and under control.

Tilting her head down, Faye dropped a soft comforting kiss onto Melissa's hair. She still seemed so tired and fragile after her day long possession that Faye wondered if she should start thinking about getting her home and safe in her bed, but it was already past nine and the walk through the dark and creepy woods didn't sound very appealing to her at the moment. Wishing the remaining members of the circle were there to assist her Faye's eye's widened when she suddenly sensed a familiar presence. With a restrained sigh of bereavement she realized she'd only been picking up on the smell of Nick's cologne, which must still be lingering in Melissa's hair...most likely from an earlier make-out session, she thought as she took another subtle sniff. Which was kind of gross considering Melissa was probably possessed by that snake demon at the time. So...did that mean it was the demon that was really making out with Nick? Oh God was hugging and kissing each other the furthest Nick and 'Melissa' had gone that day?

"Shh...Sweety don't even go there," Faye said more for her own benefit than for Melissa's and then, immediately lifting her head back up she focused on her friend's current state of mind, wondering if she felt okay enough to get up off the couch and walk with her. Being in the cabin would only keep those painful memories of the last moments they'd seen Nick alive too vivid and fresh in their minds.

"I can't help thinking about it," Melissa moaned and Faye rolled her eyes slightly in impatience. She didn't want to rush things, but she'd already ignored several text messages from her mother asking her if she was okay and instructing her to come home ASAP, which was unusual. Since when did she bother checking in with her. She never seemed to care before if she missed curfew. She'd been acting all kinds of crazy lately...and now according to Diana...she was even dating her dad. Whatever...parents were so annoying sometimes.

"Even if you did 'infect' him you had no control over that." Faye paused, mentally willing her friend to lift her head from her shoulder and show some of her old confident self again. She looked around the room for some tissues, knowing from the soggy state of her shoulder, that Melissa was definitely going to need them. "And besides," she continued, spotting a box of Kleenex on the table next to her. "Nick wasn't stupid. He had to have known there was a chance that..._thing_ would get inside of him." She lifted a strand of Melissa's hair and began twirling it through her fingers as she thought about what Cassie's grandmother had told them. Remembering that Melissa had been asleep at the time and didn't hear the old lady's sagely words of experience on the subject of demons, she shared what she'd learned with her. "Those snake demons might be drawn to the power and prefer a witch over a regular human form, but after the one possessing Heather's body left her when she died, it chose you at random last night. Demon's don't discriminate, when it comes to survival, any one of us would have sufficed." And with that said, Faye breathed a silent sigh of relief. _And thank God it didn't choose me,_ she thought idly to herself as she found a rather large knot in Melissa's hair and gently began working it loose with one hand. Evidently being possessed made one a little lax on their grooming habits.

"Do you really think so?" Melissa asked lifting her face from Faye's shoulder to better witness her reaction. "That Nick cared more about me than the danger?" she clarified.

Faye cringed a little internally at the absurd assumption Melissa was making, but having experienced the heavy weight of guilt, more often than she wanted, she quickly responded to her friend's desperate plea to unburden her soul.

"Of course." Despite herself, Faye was pleased when Melissa grabbed onto her words and held tight.

"Nick was so sweet to me yesterday. He said he didn't want to hurt me anymore..."

Faye winced again, but found a reason to summon a small smile for her friend._ Anymore? Sounds like Nick alright... _

"I always thought he only wanted me because I was convenient...I'm not sure what got into him recently..."

Faye could almost imagine what Nick might say to a statement like that_...Well recently a snake demon..._

"...before last night...and the whole thing with Heather and the snake demons...things were just starting to change between us..."

Tuning Melissa out, Faye's smile turned more ironic, thinking if anything, after a day in Melissa's body, the demon must have finally realized who the more appropriate host was. Along with wanting to possess a body with immense power, wouldn't demons prefer a human with a more tortured soul? Frankly she was surprised it wasn't drawn to Nick from the start. After all, the darkness was what interested her first and was why she had slept with him...way back when...

The sound of Melissa's grief stricken voice broke Faye out of her reverie.

"I think he did it on purpose."

"What do you mean?" Faye asked, meeting her eye. And for the first time that day, Melissa smiled at her when she wasn't in a demon induced daze. It wasn't a creepy smile either, nor was it a smug smile, but yet still it worried Faye to no end.

"I think Nick took the demon from me on purpose. He did it to save me from it. Because he loved me."

Faye didn't want to be the one to burst her friend's bubble but she was positive Nick wasn't capable of loving anyone, let alone would he jeopardize his life over a girl...no matter how good she was in bed. Normally she would choose to tell Melissa the truth over lying to her as easily as she would choose a pair of leather wrap boots over a pair of Uggs, but for some reason she was feeling protective of her. Maybe it was because she knew no matter how much blame she could shift Cassie's way, Melissa would never really forgive her for the part she'd played in Nick's death or maybe it was the simple fact that Diana had given her the responsibility of taking care of her and ensuring she got home safely that night. A warm and fuzzy feeling overcame Faye at that moment and although she didn't understand it she went with it.

"Nick would do something like that. He so totally would," she said matching her best friend's smile with a true and genuine one of her own. A little embarrassed at how much she was enjoying the radiant and pleased gleam in Melissa's eye she looked away and then awkwardly reached up to brush her hair behind her ear. When she did so, the large ring on her index finger grazed against her cheek. She frowned slightly and took a moment to study it. She hadn't realized the point when it had loosened itself from Melissa's shirt, but she had a pretty good idea it had only just happened.

Faye felt the goosebumps running up and down her arms when the candles all around the room suddenly began flickering like crazy. "We really should go," she said, releasing Melissa and pushing away from her. She could feel her true emotions rising to the surface and knew exactly what would happen if she stayed with her friend any longer in that cabin. Grabbing the box of Kleenex from the table and Melissa's hand all in one swoop she pulled her up from the couch and headed towards the direction of the nearest exit, which there were many of considering the place was a broken down shell of its former self.

Sometimes the ironies were too painful to contemplate Faye thought as she encircled her arm around Melissa's waist to help prop her upright when she stumbled after a few steps.

"Maybe we should just spend the night here on the couch," Melissa suggested with somewhat of a confused smile when instead of answering, she handed her the box of Kleenex. Faye didn't even bother blowing out the candles that were still lit throughout the various sections of the cabin they still called rooms. Somehow she knew the place wouldn't catch on fire in their absence.

"Can I spend the night at your house Faye?" Melissa asked her in a hopeful and sad voice that tugged at her heartstrings. "I really don't want to sleep alone tonight,"

"Sure," she replied quickly and with only somewhat of a forced smile. "I'd really like that."

Faye could almost hear that sexy and cute laugh of Nick's ringing out behind them as they left the cabin and, although it wasn't threatening in the least, there was a heavy ominous feeling lingering in the air.

**A.N.** Hope you liked it. Please let me know if I should continue and which couples you'd like to see together. Not that there are that many choices left now that Nick is dead...but you never know...maybe he can come back from the dead. Anyway I'm open to any and all couplings at this point. Just let me know. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 2

_Later that same night..._

Cassie stepped across the threshold of her bedroom and softly closed the door behind her. As she made her way across her room, right away her eyes were drawn toward the curtains and the window, which were both open. Noticing a light, she looked through the window frame, but quickly found the vacant room across from hers too heartbreaking, so she closed the curtains...but not with her powers...using witchcraft was out of the question. Not that she knew for certain she'd even be able to handle the simple task of using a levitation spell to either open or close a curtain from across a room she thought to herself as she let the thick cotton material slip from her grasp, she simply hadn't wanted to try. In fact, after tonight, she wasn't sure if she'd ever feel like using magic again. She couldn't help but wonder if the remaining members of the coven were feeling the same way.

Despite her efforts, a stiff breeze parted the fabric slightly, once again opening up the view to Nick's room. Thinking it was some kind of sign or omen, her stomach twisted into knots as she pictured him standing there watching her with accusing eyes.

_If it wasn't for me, he would still be alive..._

She blinked away the ghostly imagined image. No…she wouldn't go there she thought, swallowing past the lump of guilt forming in her throat. Wiping a single tear from her cheek she quickly closed the window and retraced her steps back to her doorway. With the flick of the wall switch her room was flooded with light, making it too bright to see through the glass. She didn't want to be reminded of what she'd done. If she thought about how naive she had been to mess with the binding spell her mother had put on Heather, a spell that she basically had known nothing about, the tears would come in huge waves again, and Cassie didn't want to cry anymore. And besides, like her grandmother had told her, dwelling on the past wouldn't do her any good. There was nothing anyone could do to change what had happened.

_Nothing whatsoever,_ Cassie reminded herself, not for the first time that night. Even if they could locate the spell in either Diana's or her family's Book of Shadow's their Circle was incomplete. Of course, earlier she had thought about the possibility, but she knew better now.

_What good is magic if you can't save the people you care about?_

Cassie sighed a frustrated sort of sigh, recalling the one spark of hope that had been circling around in her head during the painfully silent car ride home.

_Could they use their powers to bring someone back to life?_

Her grandmother had seemed so wise and so powerful. She hadn't answered all of her questions that night, but as she drove them home from the waterfront, she had met Cassie's eyes sadly and told her it wasn't possible...not that she'd even verbally asked her anything. It was like she'd read her mind or something, almost as if she'd known what was going through her head. Surely someone so old couldn't know what a teenage girl was thinking, but she had. Go figure.

Cassie shot a quick glance at her clock. It was late, nearing midnight, and her large queen sized bed seemed to be beckoning her. It looked so inviting. And after the terrifying and emotionally draining events over the last couple of days she was tired as hell.

Glad that she'd already cleaned her teeth and washed her face Cassie began getting undressed. Her actions seemed so ordinary to her, the nightly routine so mundane. Wishing she were back in California she thought wearily how the recent chain of events and changes in her life were always so unexpected. Her jeans skirt hit the hard wood floor with a dull thud.

_Life is unexpected alright._

Cassie bent down to pick her jeans skirt up off of the floor and then carelessly tossed it onto the large chair in the corner of her room. Her shirt quickly followed suit. Too tired to put on her pajamas, she turned down her covers and climbed into her bed in her underwear and bra. Crawling under the covers she shivered a bit when her bare skin came into contact with her cold sheets.

Just as she was starting to get warm again, she looked up at the bright light fixture on her ceiling and then quickly looked away again in annoyance. What was that anyway, a fucking thousand watt bulb? She really didn't want to get out of bed and trek across the room to turn her light off. She was that exhausted.

Oh what the hell, she thought...just this once tonight. She'd give her magic a try even though she wasn't sure it would work. She closed her eyes, centered her thoughts and was just about to whisper the levitation spell to turn off the light when her cell phone started vibrating. Having a strong feeling who was calling her, she all but tore the sheets off her bed and ran across the room. Struggling with the zipper on her backpack she pulled out her phone, and read the caller ID.

_What does she want?_

Frowning, she answered without any further hesitation.

"Faye?"

"Hey Cassie what are you up to?"

"Um...sleeping?"

"Oh really...You sleep with the lights on?"

"What? How did you..."

"Hey...You know what time it is, don'tcha? It's almost midnight...the witching hour. Come downstairs...and let me in. Maybe you...and me...can do a little...magic."

"You're downstairs?" Cassie asked a bit confused.

"I'm standing outside your grandmother's front door. And if you don't...let me in. I'm going to huff and puff and um...blow you. Oh wait...that's wrong...Or is it?"

"Faye are you drunk?"

"Come downstairs and find out."

Standing in the middle of her room in nothing but her bra and underwear, Cassie wasn't sure what to do. At least until she heard the loud knocking on her front door.

"Faye stop knocking. You'll wake up my grandmother."

"Then come down and let me in."

"Fine. I'm coming down."

"Thought you'd see it my way," Faye replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 3

It wasn't so unusual that Faye found herself standing on Cassie's front door step so close to midnight on the day their coven lost one of its members. She had a purpose in mind, one that didn't directly involve Melissa, who was currently back at her house sleeping off a various selection of herbs, spices and seagrass. Evidently a potion that might be a total rush to Faye could have an entirely different effect on someone else. Faye chuckled quietly to herself, a small smirk flickering on the edge of her mouth. Who would have thought it?

The locks on the other side of the door clicked open, washing away every thought from Faye's mind but one. After everything that had recently happened she was more than a bit surprised that Cassie had taken her call, but she was extremely glad that she did. Maybe that meant she was ready to be more than just friends connected only by the Circle. Not that it mattered to Faye if she was ready or not.

The door swung open and Cassie was finally standing there in front of Faye, in all her witchly glory. Standing and staring and…saying nothing. Well that's rude.

"You were sleeping in your clothes?" Faye asked to break the silence, her eyes roaming up and down Cassie's body possessively, just for fun in case Cassie might notice. Faye almost giggled with glee when she did.

"No I had to throw something on quick…I…" Cassie stammered and her sudden nervousness made Faye's brow rise.

"Oh? You sleep in the nude then? Well isn't that…interesting…"

"I didn't say…"

And a blush too, now that _was _interesting to say the least.

"What do you want Faye."

"I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. I just want to talk..." And if you believe that Miss frowny pants I've got a special potion that I'd like you to try. "...about Nick...Can I come inside?"

"Um...it's kind of late but..." Cassie glanced over her shoulder and hesitated ever so briefly before opening the door wider and stepping aside to let Faye in to her grandmother's house. Not by the hair of her chinny chin chin…indeed, Faye knew all along she would.

When she stepped through the doorway, Cassie put her index finger to her perfectly formed lips and motioned with her other hand for Faye to follow her up the stairs…to her bedroom Faye hoped smiling a secret smile and swaying a little at this point for effect. After all, she was supposed to be tipsy from drinking too much alcohol. Who needed acting lessons when you've lived the role?

Cassie immediately caught on to what she was attempting to throw her way and offered her an arm for assistance. Less she stumble on the stairs and wake her grandma most likely, or maybe for an entirely different reason all together, perhaps she was concerned for her and didn't want her to get hurt. Faye hoped it was a combination of the two, the emphasis of Cassie's concern being on the latter reason of course.

Up the stairs they went, their close proximity upgrading to the next level by the time they made it to the top landing. Somewhere along the way, during Faye's expert portrayal of a slightly intoxicated grief-stricken witch she 'lost her balance' and Cassie had to wrap her arm around her waist for support.

Once they were in Cassie's bedroom and the door was shut, Faye sat on the edge of Cassie's bed and then scooted herself back in mild annoyance when Cassie was taking too long, going overkill on the pillows she was gathering up behind her.

"Damn girl, Florence Nightingale's got nothin' on you," she said as she shoved a couple of the smaller ones back onto the floor to get more comfortable, and smiling the most luscious smile she could muster in her 'drunken state', she patted the sheets beside her legs suggestively. Either being particularly stubborn and prudish, or thinking she was making a drunken faux paus on her part, Cassie didn't take her suggestion seriously...instead, she folded her arms across her chest and cocked her head to the side.

"How much did you have to drink tonight Faye?" she asked to Faye's amusement. She loved that Cassie was being all angry and worried over her even though she was aiming more for distraught and confused. But she could work with that.

"It was more of a potion mixture that I may have gotten just the teensiest bit carried away with if you really want to know." She reached into the front pocket of her leather jacket. "I only took half. Wanna try it?"

Cassie immediately started to shake her head, but nevertheless Faye held the vial out to her anyway, thinking possession would at least bring her nine tenths closer to her goal. Her heart actually skipped a beat when after only a few indecisive moments Cassie took the vial from her. "You took half of this…whatever it is?" she asked studying the blue liquid curiously.

When Cassie met her eyes, a concerned look written plainly on her face, Faye shrugged slowly and deliberately and then closed her eyes and lay her head back weakly on the group of pillows behind her...striking a pose for more drama and fun. She peeked open one eye when she heard the familiar sound of the lid on the vial popping off.

"What kind of a potion is it?"

Watching her on the sly, Faye held her breath as Cassie slowly but surely brought the cobalt blue vial to her nose. The very pretty (and extremely gullible) blonde witch took a short, cautious whiff.

And that was all it took.

**A.N.** Just double checking before I proceed...You want this to be a Chamberlake story, right? Maybe if I get a few more requests/reviews I'll see what I can do. LOL The next question might be how hot and heavy do you want it to get between them?


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 4

I can't do it, Faye thought to herself as she watched Cassie bring the vial to her lips. She'd already tested the effects the potion was supposed to be having on her and it seemed to be working. So far everything she had read about it was right. Even one breath of the cobalt blue liquid was potent enough to make Cassie act upon her suggestion to take a taste when she obviously hadn't wanted to try it at all at first. She couldn't imagine what she might be able to make Cassie do, that she wouldn't otherwise be inclined to agree to, if she drank the whole vial. Although she'd actually grown quite fond of the petite blonde witch just in the relatively short time she'd known her, she wasn't sure if she would be capable of resisting the temptation to inflict some sort of extremely enjoyable...and most likely highly entertaining...form of revenge on her for ruining the good thing she had going before she came into town. Faye had never wanted to bind the Circles powers, but she had reluctantly agreed to go along with it.

_Oh well, c'est la vie and all that,_ Faye thought to herself before coming to a decision.

"Stop...you don't really want to drink that anymore," she finally said, but unfortunately for Cassie, not before she had taken one small sip of the will-bending potion Faye had gotten the recipe for out of Diana's book oh so very long ago and had been keeping on the back burner for occasions just such as this. When Cassie once again did as she was commanded, and lowered the potion from her lips, Faye wasn't surprised in the least by her automatic compliance.

"Do you want some more of it?" Cassie asked as she offered Faye the remaining portion. Faye didn't answer right away, she was much too interested in the inviting way Cassie was licking her lips to get the tangy blue residue off of them. "Faye?"

"What?"

"I asked you if you wanted some more."

Oh yes, she certainly did.

Faye mentally shook herself, amused by her own distraction.

"No," she replied, being careful not to breathe in the vapors, "maybe later." She smiled at Cassie's innocence, feeling pleased with herself for tricking her into believing that she'd drank half of the potion herself already. Of course Cassie didn't know that it wasn't a simple mood altering potion at all, but a more stronger potion with a will bending spell placed on it. And of course Faye hadn't really drank any of it herself. She'd been with Melissa earlier that night. Melissa was just a friend...and in a totally down in the dumps mood. Where would the fun be in that?

"Are you sure?" Cassie said, her brow pulling up in a question. "Hey...wait...you never exactly said what kind of potion this is."

"Really? Oops my bad." Faye smiled at Cassie reassuringly and gave a nonchalant shrug before hopping down off of her bed to look around her room. "Basically it's a mood altering potion," she said, the lie rolling off her tongue effortlessly, "not too serious, but when you're feeling all sad and potentially catastrophic it helps you deal with things better. I took it because I didn't want to think about Nick anymore tonight." Standing with her arms crossed at the foot of the bed, she glanced over at the fireplace mantle curiously, idly wondering if that was where Cassie kept her Book of Shadows. "Cassie..." she began, but then stopped short when Cassie suddenly rose from the bed and moved to stand in front of her.

"Are you sure that's what it's for? And what do you mean by 'not too serious'? What kind of ingredients did you put in here?" she asked, practically shoving the vial under Faye's nose. A mortified look washed over her. "I guess I should have asked that _before_ I drank it."

Faye backed away a little as she stared at the open vial in Cassie's hand, her confidence only lightly dampened. "Close the vial Cassie. And you don't really want to know what's in it, so stop asking so many questions about the damn potion."

Cassie twisted the top back on the small glass tube and then she just stood there with it in her hand, looking at Faye with a pained and perplexed expression as if she wanted to ask her what she wanted her to do with it, but couldn't because of what she had just told her.

Rolling her eyes a bit, Faye decided she'd better choose her words more carefully from then on. "Put the vial down on the mantle, and be careful not to break it."

"Okay," Cassie said and then immediately turned and went over to the fireplace.

When after gently setting the vial down, Cassie held on to the mantle, as if for support, Faye instantly became worried. She hoped the blonde witch wasn't having some kind of negative reaction from being under the spell of her potion. "How do you feel?" she asked.

Cassie grinned somewhat sheepishly. "Even though I only had a sip, the potion seems to be working. I'm beginning to feel a little wobbly in the knees...like I've had a few too many beers."

Faye crinkled her nose in disdain. "Alcohol is too fattening...especially beer. One of the many benefits of magical potions? No carbs." She shrugged. "But even liquid magic isn't perfect. Just like with drugs or alcohol, everyone feels the effects to different degrees." She smirked a bit, thinking about how Melissa had fallen asleep only minutes after she'd taken the special potion she'd mixed together for her to make her stop loving someone. Knowing from experience the effects of that particular potion were hit and miss, depending on how much emotion you had invested in that person, she was glad she'd had the foresight to lace the can of soda she'd given her earlier with ground up Valium which would at least have the added benefit of allowing her friend to get some rest for the next several hours. Evidently being possessed by a demon and losing her boy friend all in one day had all been just a bit too much for her. And like she'd been so ecstatically happy up until then Faye scoffed to herself as she shook her head ever so slightly.

"Faye...what's happening? I...don't like the way I'm starting to...feel...I..."

Faye looked up and met the other witch's eyes which were wide now and filled with concern...and more than a smidgen of anger. A shadow of doubt began to cloud her mind that she really wanted this. "I'm sorry Cassie...I didn't mean to..." Not quite sure what she was about to tell her, she closed her eyes, starting to feel a little discombobulated herself.

"It's midnight," she heard Cassie say, her words suddenly sounding as though they were coming from across the room. "Why do I have this sense of impending doom? Like something bad's about to happen? Are you feeling it too?"

Faye reached over and gripped onto the mantle next to her tightly, the exact same thought going through her head. Her eyes still closed, she felt Cassie place her hand on top of hers and they stood together like that while the strange eerie feeling descended upon them.

"If I turn into a cat or something I'm really going to be pissed at you..."

"Cassie..." Faye opened her eyes abruptly and then immediately wished she hadn't. She felt dizzy and lightheaded...the room was spinning as if she were under the influence of alcohol, or some kind of potion. But she didn't drink, and she'd taken great pains not to expose herself to either of the two potions she'd had in her possession that night. She'd wanted to keep a clear head for her little rendezvous with Cassie. What was wrong with her, she wondered? Why was she feeling so weird?

Suddenly realizing what might be happening, Faye focused intently on Cassie's electric blue orbs which were staring at her with half confusion and half annoyance, while she tried to gather her thoughts. The circle may have been broken with Nick's death, but the remaining members had still been bound...until now that is.

About ten seconds later, after Faye realized the strange far away feeling was beginning to pass...at least enough so she could think straight again...she quoted the words she'd memorized from Diana's book concerning the binding spell, "'Until the witching hour comes on the eve of any of the six members passing'."

Cassie nodded in understanding. "The binding spell is broken." She smiled at Faye, it was small and a little shaky, and Faye didn't like what it did to her. "Officially and permanently."

When Cassie finally let her hand slip from hers Faye looked away for a few beats, oddly feeling a little saddened that she was no longer connected to the remaining members of the coven. But there was only one reason and one reason only that she was disheartened that the circle was now incomplete she told herself. "I guess we'll never know our Circle's full potential now that Nick..." She broke off, unable to finish.

"Yeah..." was all Cassie said after a few uncomfortable moments of silence between them. If she was feeling guilty about Nick and regretting breaking the suppression spell on Heather...the first spell they had tried together, the two of them unwittingly releasing a demon from a catatonic victim of witchcraft...Faye didn't know, and she wasn't about to ask her. Remorse was a useless emotion. But even though Faye believed that with all her heart, she found herself struggling to reign in her own regrets.

Feeling a sudden urgency to leave, she let her hand slip from the side of the mantle, but then hesitated as she recalled the reason why she had come there. She looked over at Cassie, who was now standing in front of her dresser staring wistfully at her reflection...or was she? Her eyes met Cassie's in the mirror and Faye smiled at her pleasantly enough as she tried to quell the small quivers of melancholy mixed with hope that were fluttering inside her. She took a breath, thoughtfully putting together her request/demand. "I need something from you Cassie. I need some kind of distraction to help me sleep. I know you want to give me what I want so why don't you come over here and..."

She cocked her head to the side, when without question and without waiting for her to finish, Cassie crossed the room to stand in front of her.

Faye grinned, a pleased look spreading across her face, beginning to totally like this new power she now had over the blonde witch.

**A.N**. I know cliffy's suck. Sorry still trying to decide the best way to proceed and still keep all of you happy. Thanks for all of the reviews by the way. Hope you're enjoying the story so far.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 5

_Earlier as she lay awake in her bed, unable to fall asleep, it had become clear to Faye that she was in desperate need of some form of major distraction. She needed something to get her through the night…something to do, so she could fill the anxious void she was feeling…something totally awesome and mind blowing. _

_Taking a minor breather in between relationships, sex wasn't in the cards for her, but exploring magic was and since learning how to grow more powerful with it was still her number one addiction she decided to go over to see Cassie and invite herself into her grandmother's house using the excuse that she was grieving over Nick and needed someone to talk to, when her real intentions actually were elsewhere…to get Cassie to let her see her Book of Shadow's again...and not just a short peek like the one she'd given her the first time. _

_She'd been so stingy with it and had made her give it back so quickly before, Faye knew she wouldn't just hand her book over to her, certainly not with the skillful use of her powers of persuasion alone. It was then that she had come up with the idea to use the will bending potion on Cassie in order to ensure that she would get what she wanted. And so far her plan had gone off without a hitch, which was surprising to her since she hadn't had much practice with this new venue of manipulation. Nevertheless the potion seemed to be working, everything was unfolding rather well._

_The only problem with Faye's plan was Faye. She was easily distracted, and grew bored way too quickly. Somewhere along the way, getting possession of the book didn't matter as much anymore; she had a new game in mind, a game that not only still involved testing her magic but provided various kinds of rewards that could potentially be a lot more exciting. And Faye was always looking for new excitements..._

**Faye grinned, a pleased look spreading across her face, beginning to totally like this new power she now had over the blonde witch.**

"And what…?" Cassie prodded her with her softly spoken words as well as her impossibly wide and extremely deep, ocean blue eyes. Faye caught herself staring and snapped herself out of her momentary daze. She noticed that Cassie was starting to look a little uncomfortable, like maybe she was ready to finally tell her no, but up to the challenge, Faye continued.

"What d'ya say we get more comfortable?" she said, not having to think about going left instead of right, because she knew taking the longer and more difficult path meant it would be more enjoyable. Not really expecting an answer, she walked slowly and quite deliberately toward the bed. She didn't even have to look back to see if Cassie was following her. She knew there was no way she would be able to resist her charms. And by 'charms' she meant the effects of her potion of course, not that she could officially rule out her allure, since she wasn't absolutely one hundred percent clear about the way Cassie was wired.

Though she'd been living in Chance Harbor for almost a month now, Cassie had effectively spurned Adam's advances towards her and hadn't gone out with anybody with the exception of Luke. And that had only been that one time when she'd accepted his invitation to the school dance to prove to Adam that she wasn't interested. But even then she'd been forced to ditch Luke half way through the night after that psycho Zachary had tried to kill her. The other five members of the coven had come to her rescue and joined their powers together to basically knock the crap out of the guy. Sadly, it was the first and only time their newly bound Circle had practiced magic together.

And speaking of practicing magic together…Faye hopped up on the bed and quickly scooted her lower back up against the pile of pillows. It was then that she realized Cassie was still standing where she'd left her. She quietly sighed in minor exasperation.

"Must I be any more explicit?" she said gesturing for Cassie to sit down near her by patting the sheets next to her.

"Actually, yes," Cassie mumbled and as she crossed the room and approached the bed, Faye cast one last fleeting glance toward the fireplace, where she thought Cassie might be keeping her family journal hidden. It was at that point that she determined that the thousands of magic spells that were inside waiting to be unleashed didn't presently hold any appeal to her. There was something else on her mind…something perhaps just as wild and unpredictable; however of an entirely different nature…that needed to be unleashed.

"You want me to get in bed with you?" Cassie asked, the distraught and confused tone in her voice pulling her focus away from the mantle, and Faye just had to smile. It was that coy, seductive smile of hers, symbolic of the moment and promising so much. And yet still Cassie hesitated.

"Oh for God's sake Goldilocks," Faye said somewhat frustrated. "I promise I won't bite, just get over here already." Removing her leather jacket, she carelessly tossed it onto the large chair in the corner of Cassie's room.

"Okay," Cassie said compliantly, and when she was sidled up all comfy and cozy next to her on the pillows, Faye was intrigued when their eyes met, and Cassie immediately looked away, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Wondering if Cassie was embarrassed or nervous, and thinking it was entirely too cute either way, Faye's lips twitched, but this time she didn't smile. Instead, she kept her face straight and, following Cassie's gaze, looked down at her feet.

"My boots are so kickass. Don't you just love them?"

"Um…yeah, they're really nice," Cassie replied, not really sounding all that enthused, but Faye didn't mind.

"Well they may look 'nice' and fit like a dream, but their making me hot." And that's not all that's making me hot, she thought as her gaze casually slid across Cassie's body before she reached down and began to unzip the zippers on her inner calves. That done, she expertly peeled her boots off with her toes, shoved them over the side of the bed and let them drop to the hard wood floor with a solid thud.

"Don't be so fucking loud," Cassie snapped at her. "You'll wake up my grandmother."

A little shocked at Cassie's sudden show of spunk…and slightly mean spirit…Faye turned to look at her and though she was far from an angel herself, her brow rose heavenward. "So you're a firecracker in bed too, well isn't that a fun fact to know."

Cassie glared back at her in steamy silence making Faye wonder if she would still be sitting there by her side…so close their thighs were touching all the way down the length of them…if she hadn't been forced, because of the potion. At what point would she normally have told her to piss off and tossed her out of her house? She half expected her to do so now, having become accustomed to her slight tantrums that she seemed to have no qualms about throwing in her presence. Cassie had always acted so standoffish, so distant towards her...even after the terrorizing ordeal they had just gone through together with Heather...Faye wasn't sure if Cassie really liked her. Did she even consider her a friend?

Faye was still wondering all those things when Cassie's features suddenly softened, but every single thought flew out of her head when Cassie moved to put her hand over hers as she gripped the edge of the blanket under her.

"You said you needed something from me before. What is it you need Faye?"

"You really want to know?" she asked Cassie, making sure to keep a questioning tone in her voice, lest her words sound more of a demand, and when Cassie nodded just once Faye held her gaze as she rather boldly told her. "I want you to kiss me," she said, not much into subtleties. When Cassie immediately shifted her glance to her lips, Faye knew this time, further direction wouldn't be necessary.

Without saying anything Cassie leaned over and planted her lips over hers. She kissed her then softly, gently and Faye was so surprised with how it felt, she barely kissed her back.

"So are we done now?" Cassie asked when Faye pulled back and looked at her.

Recognizing the annoyance in her voice and practically in her entire being, Faye had more than an inkling of suspicion that Cassie had either known all along, or just figured out what kind of potion she'd actually given her. When she couldn't truthfully give her an answer to her question, Cassie started to rise from the bed, but feeling confused and a little annoyed herself, Faye tried to stop her. "You don't want to do that."

"Do what Faye?" Cassie snapped again, twisting back around to match her glare with an angry one of her own. "If you're going to use a will bending spell on someone, you really have to learn how to phrase your sentences. Vagueness just doesn't cut it."

"Stop running away!" Faye said, not really trying to 'work her magic' in any way at the moment, but more because she didn't want to end up alone that night and was hoping that Cassie really wanted to be with her. Whether the potion was still working or not, she wasn't sure, but Cassie did stop. She turned back around as she sat on the edge of the bed. Their eyes met and as they locked their gaze together in a battle of wills Faye was unsure who would give in first.

"I wasn't really running," Cassie said...rather snarkily Faye thought still a bit unclear the one last ditch effort Cassie had pushed her into was working.

"And I wasn't really ordering you not to," she replied, trying hard for once _not_ to sound snarky. She was pleased to see that she had Cassie's rapt attention and that she seemed to have her full wits about her. Though the way she was looking at her so intently…with such daunting coolness written clearly in those wide blue eyes of hers…was a bit intimidating to her. Faye was very familiar with intimidation, but it was unusual for her to find herself on the other side of it.

There was a rather long pause and it seemed like they were at an impasse until Cassie reached down and once again took Faye's hand in hers. "Faye?" she said, a grin sneaking across her face. "If you ever try to use one of your potions on me again. You're going to be one sorry witch."

Faye's eyes flashed defiantly. "And you better not threaten me witch," she reminded her, "the potion hasn't worn off yet."

Despite her show of bravado Faye was very relieved when Cassie suddenly laughed. "Now whose threatening who?"

Her humor seeming contagious Faye finally grinned. "What d'ya say, we pick up where we left off?" she said, raising her brow and staring at Cassie's lips suggestively.

Cassie tilted her head to the side and still smiling, leaned in to kiss her. "Wait," Faye said, her lips mere inches from hers.

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked her.

"How do I know you won't be kissing me against your will?"

After a short thoughtful pause, Faye got her answer when Cassie swooped in and planted her lips on hers. She kissed her hard and deeply, and when she finally pulled away, there was no doubt in Faye's mind whatsoever. Never one to do things half way, Faye smirked, definitely wanting to continue this, but she needed to do something first.

Quickly climbing off the bed she walked swiftly over to the mantle and scooped up the vial. Spinning around she smiled at Cassie before popping the lid off of the potion.

"Faye," Cassie said, "What are you doing?"

Bringing the vial to her lips Faye tilted her head back and downed the remaining will-bending potion in one gulp. Licking her lips she set the empty vial back on the mantle and all but ran across the room and jumped on the bed, the springs protesting loudly as they both bounced a little.

"Leveling the field between good witches and bad witches," she finally answered once the bed stopped jiggling.

"Whose the good witch and whose the bad witch?" Cassie asked her.

"As if you don't already know," Faye replied with an elusive sort of smile as she gently pushed Cassie back against the pillows, straddled her waist and started tugging at her shirt.

**A.N_. _**More to come?_  
><em>


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 6

_Cassie didn't know why she was acting and feeling this way…impulsive and reckless behavior normally wasn't in her nature. She'd never kissed a girl before, at least not the way she was kissing Faye. She'd tried to fight it at first, tried to resist Faye's charms, but the force was too strong and she couldn't._

_Was magic doing this to her, was it the potion she'd tasted that was making her heart pound and her pulse race? It had sure seemed like that at first. But she couldn't really use that excuse anymore seeing as the effects had already worn off and her tongue was still down Faye's throat now could she? _

_If blame was to be apportioned for the spell she seemed to be under, the majority should go to Faye. It was the unpredictable, highly volatile and extremely irritating witch that had done this to her, and for that she would forever and eternally be grateful._

_Faye showing up at her door that night had been quite a surprise, but she was glad that she did. After everything that they had recently gone through together, the fact that she'd thought she needed a ruse to gain entrance into her home was thought provoking and had made Cassie look at not only her friendship with Faye in a new light, but with everything in her life._

_From the beginning, when she'd first come to Chance Harbor perhaps if she'd been less uptight about accepting her destiny, and more receptive to making new friends, new connections, then things might have turned out differently. If only she'd opened up to the other members of the coven sooner, instead of reverting back to her loner status and shutting people out…if only she hadn't acted so completely impetuous and lifted the suppression sigil from Heather…_

_If only…lately Cassie had thought about a lot of 'if only's', but at the moment there was one particularly baffling 'if only' going through her mind…If only she knew what the hell she was doing with Faye Chamberlain in her bed…_

When Cassie and Faye finally pulled away from yet another long passionate kiss Cassie reached around Faye's back and started fumbling with her red lacy bra. Both of their shirts had already been discarded in a move so quick one might have thought magic was involved, and considering they were both full blooded witches and Faye had already used magic on her once that night the thought had crossed Cassie's mind…she had good reason to suspect Faye might be utilizing some kind of tantalizing and seductive trick she'd found in Diana's book.

"Aren't there rules against doing magic for personal gain?" she asked a little breathlessly and only somewhat jokingly. That Faye had gone to so much trouble all to get a kiss out of her was flattering, and perhaps a bit humorous, but the part about her using the will-bending potion to manipulate her into doing it was not.

"Diana's book didn't mention it," Faye replied as she lay down on top of Cassie, pressing her whole weight on her body. She tried to distract Cassie from talking by tracing her tongue sensuously around her ear.

When Faye softly nipped at her earlobe, Cassie shivered. "Stop that for a moment Faye. I'm trying to do something here."

Faye immediately lifted her head to look at her. "What? Bore me with cautionary warnings about using magic? Believe me; Diana's already given me the whole 'use your moral compass' speech like a thousand times." She shifted her weight to the right a little to wedge her knee between Cassie's thighs then she nipped her ear a little harder this time, just in case she hadn't gotten her message.

"No Faye, I'm trying to take your bra off."

"Oh…in that case…" Faye stopped squirming and sat up, a Cheshire-like smile forming on her face. "The hooks are in the front silly witch," she explained and Cassie sat up too, realizing she did feel a little silly for not noticing. Eagerly reaching for Faye's bra she did notice one thing…the sheer, lacy material didn't really hide much. "So does this mean I can borrow your book again? Because I don't put out for free."

Cassie snapped her head up, hoping she was just being her usual smart ass self, but the blank expression on the raven-haired girl's face had her wondering. "Are you serious?"

A flicker of a smirk curved on her lips. "No, I'm Faye."

Cassie grinned…deciding two could play at that game she dropped her hands to her hips. "Take off your bra and you can borrow my book…for ten minutes," she added, somehow knowing Faye was the type of person who needed clear limits.

Faye smiled like a child just given a new toy. "Well tie me up and call me a wiccan, if I knew _this _was all it would take, I would've paraded naked in front of your house earlier," she said as she quickly unhooked her bra and dropped it from her shoulders. Tossing it behind her it caught on the bedpost at the foot of the bed.

Cassie gulped; amazed at the full view she now had of Faye's breasts...which were beautiful, their size and shape so perfect, they couldn't be ignored. However, in the hopes of trying to catch an evasive thought, she had to look away. "Oh, you mean instead of lying to me, pretending to be drunk and then tricking me into taking a potion just to manipulate me into giving you what you want?"

Faye put her hand over her heart and feigned a hurt look that was as unconvincing as her apology. "Sorry…I promise I won't do it again," she drawled, her voice sounding way more sarcastic than contrite.

It was the smirk that soon followed that convinced Cassie that Faye's unrepentant attitude meant there was a strong likelihood she _would_ do it again. Clearly the warning she'd given her earlier wouldn't be enough of a deterrent.

"You don't believe me do you?" Faye asked somewhat annoyed now.

Cassie pursed her lips to say something, but then realized she wasn't sure what more she could say to Faye concerning the transgression she had committed against her. She could only hope that the next time Faye wanted something from her…as simple as a kiss…she would just ask.

Faye sighed. "Look Cassie…the spell has worn off but I'm still in your bed. Obviously you wanted me from the start. Though that may not have been the purpose behind the reason why I came here, that potion gave us both an opportune moment to show how hot we were for each other. You should be glad I tricked you into taking it." When Cassie didn't answer her, she chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully, wondering at her continued silence.

Cassie frowned, thinking over what Faye had just said. "That's all very true Faye. We might not have ever admitted that we were attracted to each other otherwise, so I am glad about that part but I still don't think you realize how wrong that was for you to do that." Still thinking about what Faye had said, it suddenly dawned on her what had been bugging her. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You said you had an original purpose for coming here? What was it Faye?" At the wary look in her eye somehow Cassie knew. "It was my book wasn't it?"

Faye simply stared at her. Annoyed now that Faye had been withholding the full truth from her Cassie tried to squirm out from under her but Faye was straddling her lap and she wouldn't budge. "Cassie wait, don't go storming off in huff. It all worked out in the end. You shouldn't be mad."

"Don't bother telling me what I should and shouldn't be feeling Faye. The potion has already worn off." She tried to get up, but still Faye wouldn't budge. "Faye get off of me!" she finally ordered her and then, she did. In the next instant, Faye had scooted herself away from her until her back was leaning up against the bedpost on the foot of the bed.

Faye raised an eyebrow at her, the both of them suddenly remembering the large amount of will-bending potion she'd gulped down so freely. Although the smaller amount Cassie had taken had already worn off, Faye's hadn't.

They stared at each other and then Faye broke the silence. "You're mad aren't you?"

"Wouldn't you be?" Cassie asked a little calmer now…but still just as angry, she eyed Faye with thoughts of retribution floating around in her mind.

Faye meanwhile was actually putting herself in Cassie's shoes and thinking how pissed she would be. "You're not planning on getting even with me, are you?" she said, cutting straight to the chase as she folded her arms across her chest and scowled.

Cassie folded her arms across her chest, mimicking her. Debating the possibilities she said, "Probably not," the glint in her eye telling Faye otherwise.

"Apparently you are," she said, unlocking her arms to smooth her hair back into place. Cassie could tell it was a nervous gesture because her hair was perfectly in place. "If this is going to be a tit for tat thing, how about I take your bra off and…"

Interrupting her, Cassie shook her head. "That would be two tits for tat." Faye chuckled and Cassie smiled a small smile. "And besides," she added, "not only would that be entirely too easy, but you'd probably enjoy it too much."

"Probably," Faye agreed with a slight tilt of her head. "Although I could always try doing it with my teeth."

Cassie's lips twitched. "Still too easy."

"Not…really," Faye drawled in somewhat of a knowing tone.

Still mad at her, Cassie pondered on that for a few moments before shifting her thoughts back to what form of punishment, if any, she should give Faye. "What you did was really lousy," she reminded her.

Faye smiled, reminding her of something also. "And if I didn't give you that potion, you'd still be denying your attraction to me."

"You're such a brat," Cassie said only half in jest. She knew what Faye had said was true. Something about Faye had attracted her from the moment she'd first laid eyes on her. Without the potion, she would never have kissed her. And it was the kiss that made her realize that the crush was more than she expected. But that was beside the point. No matter what reason she had for doing it, manipulating someone with magic for your own personal gain was wrong.

"And you're being a bore. If I wanted a lecture…I would've given Diana the potion." She tilted her head as if considering it. "She is very pretty. I could definitely hit that."

Faye flinched when the overhead light began to flicker and then it quickly popped, plunging the room into darkness.

"We still have our powers."

"Obviously," Cassie stated in a droll tone, and although she couldn't see her face in the darkness, Cassie could almost picture the look of surprise on Faye's face.

"I wasn't sure if we'd lost them."

Her unrelenting gaze locked on the shadowy form sitting in front of her on her bed, Cassie didn't bother telling her she had been thinking the same thing…that after Nick's death, they may have lost the use of their powers.

"What d'ya say we do some magic together…test them out?" Faye said excitedly.

Cassie sighed, suddenly feeling tired, the events over the course of the last few days finally catching up with her. "What d'ya say we get some sleep instead," she suggested once she was done stifling a yawn.

"But I need you," Faye whined as she scooted up closer to Cassie on the bed. "I can't do magic without your help."

She shrugged. "Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Go ahead and give it a try, even though it's late and you should probably try to get some sleep because we have school tomorrow…That is if you're still going," she added thinking about Nick again. Her face fell as sadness came over her. "Do whatever you want. I'm going to sleep." Quickly shucking off her jeans skirt and tossing it toward the corner of her room, she had just crawled under the covers and settled her head on her pillow when she felt the blankets being lifted behind her. In the next moment she felt Faye's warm body under the sheets with her.

Snuggling up to her, her naked breasts pressing firmly up against her back, Faye wrapped one arm around Cassie's waist and kissed her cheek.

"You do know I'm going to hold you to what you said…that I can borrow your book," she said softly by her ear. She kissed her cheek again, before settling her head down on the pillow they were sharing.

Cassie closed her eyes and an unseen tear dropped down onto the pillow case as she wondered if this was what Faye really wanted, or if the potion was still working its magic on her.

TBC?


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 7

The next morning Faye woke before Cassie, quickly dressed, grabbed her boots and quietly left her room, she had a major headache which she chalked up to the potion she'd taken the night before and wanted to go home to get some aspirin. She briefly thought about staying until Cassie woke up to see if the potion was giving her the same hangover-like side effects, but then decided against it when she heard Cassie's grandmother moving about in her bedroom downstairs. She thought it might be a bit awkward for her to find her in Cassie's room so early in the morning and didn't want to have to explain why she was there, especially to someone as old as her own grandaddy. And besides that, Cassie's grandmother was a powerful, bad-ass witch, with enough magic to turn her into an ugly troll or a cheerleader or something. Faye shuddered at the thought as the front door closed softly behind her.

As she passed by Nick's house on her way to her car she couldn't bring herself to look that way. So much had happened over the last few days that the only thing that was keeping her from falling into a major funk was the memory of the wildly passionate and totally unexpected night she'd spent with Cassie.

Cassie woke up when she heard her bedroom door closing. She looked over at the empty bed beside her and the memories of the night before came flooding back to her. She was mad that Faye had left without saying anything, but at the same time she was a little relieved that she had. She was sure she would have been embarrassed and wouldn't really have known what to say to the dark-haired girl, because quite frankly she was confused beyond belief.

There had definitely been some kind of spark between them right from the start, she had always sensed it, so much tension that at times she'd felt like she was going to explode. But neither one of them seemed to be very good at expressing their true feelings towards each other and what had happened with the potion just seemed so surreal to Cassie that she didn't want to put too much weight behind it.

Maybe the whole thing between Faye and her that night had been some kind of fluke, the stars temporarily shifting out of alignment because of Nick's death, she told herself as she heard the front door closing...maybe it was just their way of handling the grief they were feeling. After all, a young boy had just suddenly and violently had his life taken away, and although Cassie hadn't really gotten to know Nick all that well she was still greatly saddened that he was gone. Faye had known Nick since childhood, and besides being a full blooded witch and a member of their coven, he'd been a good friend of hers.

Cassie slowly climbed out of bed and went to the window. She opened the curtain and forced herself to look across the way at the house next door. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. The guilt she was feeling for being partly responsible for Nick's death was burdening her heart, even though she wasn't being blamed in any way. Her grandmother hadn't even seemed very mad at her for recklessly practicing magic and subsequently killing one of her own coven, but she was sure, eventually, some fault would be found with what she had done. She didn't know how she was going to face Melissa after what happened. She almost wished her grandmother had at least grounded her for the week so she wouldn't have to see her at school.

At the sound of a car starting up in the street outside her house, Cassie yanked the curtain closed again and turned around to stare blankly at her empty bed.

What the heck had she been thinking last night? The day was going to be hard enough to get through without dragging new emotions into it. Dealing with Faye would only be adding to the awkwardness, she thought to herself as she bent over to pick up her jean skirt from the floor. She was so dreading what was going to happen.

**A.N.** Just a quick filler chapter to get some of what Cassie and Faye are now feeling into it. There will be more soon I promise. Love it? Hate it? Please let me know.


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 8

That same morning Cassie had a minor revelation, well two minor revelations actually, the first one concerning her grandmother.

_Old people are not only, almost never what you think they are, but they're no pushovers…_

When Cassie came downstairs to find her grandmother, an amazingly-understanding, super-powerful witch preparing breakfast she had some rather eye opening news for her. As she stood over her at the table, holding a frying pan full of scrambled eggs that Cassie had already feebly tried to argue she wasn't really hungry for…and that if she was, she was perfectly capable of making them on her own…she scooped a spoonful of eggs onto her plate and told her, in an 'oh by the way' kind of way that she was grounded for two days. Cassie's eyes widened and she nearly choked on her mouthful of orange juice.

"Cassie, you will be staying home from school today, as well as tomorrow," her grandmother said.

Normally these were the kind of words most teenagers wanted to hear. Being given permission to play hooky and skip classes for two days so you can stay at home, watch TV and basically loaf lazily around the house? She should have been ecstatic. But Cassie definitely wasn't.

"But I thought you said none of this was my fault. Why are you grounding me?" Cassie asked, her eyes narrowing with a hopeful suspicion that her grandmother had ulterior motives for doing so other than as a form of punishment.

"I was trying to be sympathetic rather than intrusive last night because I know you're a good person and your heart was in the right place when you tried to help Heather. However, the fact remains that you are partially responsible for what happened. That spell was way out of your league…you should have realized that. Your actions betray a tendency to recklessness that…"

"So you're grounding me for two days for releasing that demon?" Cassie said, as if it was the most normal kind of question to ask. "I already feel bad enough. Wouldn't going to school and having to face hundred's of grieving classmates be more of a punishment?"

"This isn't a punishment Cassie."

"Sure sounds like one to me," Cassie grumbled half under her breath, but if her grandmother heard her she gave no sign.

"I believe you will benefit from this time alone, away from your friends and from school…it will give you the proper time you need to reflect upon your lack of caution. I know you're a highly independent young girl, but you can't always do things on your own."

"But Grandma…I did…I came to you for help. Don't you think grounding me now would be more than a bit unfair?"

"Before you speak of fairness, I think you need to remember that a woman and a young boy are dead." Well that was a bit harsh Grandma, Cassie thought to herself. "And you shouldn't argue with your elders. It's disrespectful," she added as she placed yet another heaping spoonful of eggs onto her plate. "Evidently recklessness isn't the only trait embedded in your genes." Cassie glanced away and swallowed hard.

"Eat your breakfast Cassie your eggs are getting cold."

Staring down at her plate, her stomach churning into knots, Cassie picked up her fork remembering how, earlier, she had been wishing her grandmother had grounded her so she wouldn't have to face Melissa at school.

"Be careful what you wish for…" she mumbled under her breath.

Her grandmother turned around after setting the frying pan in the sink. "Did you say something Cassie?"

"Um…yeah… I said I would do the dishes."

"Thank you Cassie. Seeing as I'm already late for my morning shift at the hospital, that would be most helpful."

About twenty minutes later, after her grandmother had left for work and she had placed the last of the dirty dishes into the dish washer, Cassie stood in the center of the kitchen, having absolutely no idea what she was going to do for the rest of the day.

Cassie's second revelation came soon after she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. It was a text message from Faye, saying she should ditch school and come over to her house so she could show her something. The next text she sent was a picture.

Cassie's mouth literally fell open and her eyes got huge.

"I can't really say I regret last night…but sleeping with Faye Chamberlain sure has made my life a lot more complicated," Cassie said once she'd collected herself. Any further revelations were put on hold as she texted her back.

**A.N. **I know this is kinda short, but I'm having trouble deciding who Cassie should listen to…her grandmother or Faye?


	9. Chapter 9

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 9

As Cassie was trying to parallel park the flaming-red pickup truck she had been given as a loaner in front of Faye's way newer and much more luxurious black Volvo, she was feeling a lot like Bella Swan on a booty call…only Edward's role was being played by his cute sister Alice and…

Just then a horn honked, and a car blew by her, disrupting the fantasy she was trying to explore. Cassie muttered something about lousy drivers in Washington under her breath as she continued to maneuver into the closest open parking spot nearest to Faye's house.

After parking, she got out of her truck, but didn't want to be childish so she resisted the urge to slam the door. She still steamed inside every time she had to look at the dinky little red Toyota she was being forced to drive around town until the auto repair shop fixed the fire damage under the hood of the sage-green Ford Explorer she was accustomed to driving. Damn Faye Chamberlain and her high-spirited shenanigans, Cassie thought as she locked the door manually.

With somewhat of a calming sigh she stuffed the car keys into her jacket pocket and slowly headed up the entranceway, noticing right away…and thinking it a little strange…as she walked up the steps that the front door to Faye's house was wide open. Unsure if she should just go in, entering another person's home for the first time without knocking didn't seem right, so she rang the doorbell and waited.

When after a full minute, no one answered, Cassie called out to the totally bratty witch who had invited her over and then didn't have the common courtesy to greet her at the door, but then quickly mentally conceded that thought, thinking that with the television blaring so loudly, Faye probably hadn't even heard her.

Trying to pinpoint where she was in the house she stepped inside the doorway and briefly peaked around the downstairs looking for any signs of her. With her Volvo still outside and her leather jacket and knapsack hanging over the banister she knew Faye had to be somewhere in the vicinity, so she stood in front of the stairway, cocked her head to the side attentively and determined the sound of the television was coming from somewhere upstairs. Cassie hastily headed up that way, once again calling out the oh-so-very sexy but still extremely rude raven-haired girl's name.

"Faye? Are you up here?" she said, as she came to the top of the landing.

Then she heard a hissing noise that sounded a lot like pain, followed by a very pissed off witch yelling a loud obscene comment to what she hoped and could only assume to be the television.

"No Matt…Don't do it…Tell Bonnie to shove her fucking ritual up her hoo-ha!"

Smiling to herself, Cassie quickly located Faye's bedroom and stood in the doorway. She was lying on her bed wearing a strapless rust colored mini dress and suede lace-up ankle boots that cuff down at the top.

"So who's Bonnie?" she remarked with a casualness that she wasn't entirely feeling.

"She's the witch, duh," Faye replied, without taking her eyes away from the corner of her room.

"Is she a good witch or a bad witch?" Cassie asked jokingly as she took a few steps closer to get a better view of the thirty-six inch flat-screen mounted on the wall. And then she looked back at Faye and her smile widened with the puzzling notion that a television show about vampires could hold her rapt attention.

"She's a goody two shoes witch and too nice for her own good, just like Diana," Faye replied with her trademark scowl, that luckily was still aimed at the witch on the screen.

"Diana's not a goody two shoes. She's actually pretty knowledgeable, and I like that she's nice," Cassie said as she plopped herself down onto Faye's bed and then she blinked in surprise and her mouth fell open when Faye uncrossed her arms and swatted her leg, either to protest her remark or to shush her, she wasn't quite sure. It didn't really hurt, but it stung a little.

"Hey…" she complained, glad now that she'd decided not to change out of her jeans into a short skirt. She wanted to ask Faye why she had slapped her, but was a little wary about doing so, thinking it might just earn her another one.

Wow, she thought, with a pouting frown as she bent over to pull her ugg boots off, I sure am glad I rushed over here. After removing her boots she scooted over closer to Faye, feeling a little confused at the way she was ignoring her, paying more attention to the show she was watching. She'd seemed so desperate for her company earlier when she'd texted her. Is this what she'd risked breaking her grounding for?

After a moment's consideration, Cassie's frown softened, remembering how Faye had tried to entice her into coming over by sexting her a picture of her bra-clad boobs. She'd deleted it immediately of course, but not before messaging Faye back with a flirty text saying that she'd love to come…which then of course led to another more raunchy response from Faye concerning the word 'come'…and what she had suggested had made Cassie blush.

She'd been fantasizing about Faye all morning, so what if she was grounded and if her grandmother found out she would be in big trouble…more importantly, Faye needed her. And besides, her grandmother was at work, if Cassie got back before she came home, she'd never even know.

Grinning a little now, Cassie reached for Faye's hand that was resting between them on the sheets, but Faye jerked it away and then casually bent over to unlace her boots and take them off. When she was done she reached back and released her hair from its ponytail, and then she shook it out, to let it fall over her shoulders where it wanted to, the sensual action doing very little to calm Cassie's hormones.

"Don't Matt," Faye said, obviously still enraptured by the TV show, "you'll never see Vicki again…And she's so hot. You know you want to hit that, even though she's your sister."

Her interest momentarily peaked, Cassie turned to look at the screen. Although she was familiar with the _Vampire Diaries_ and had watched it off and on since the first season, having been paying more attention to life lately rather than television she hadn't kept up with what was happening on the show.

"So...Bonnie's trying to kill Vicki? I thought she was already dead."

"She was," she said and as hazel-green eyes gazed intently upon her face Cassie's breath caught, and then Faye looked away and, reaching for the remote, paused the scene recorded on the DVR to explain. "But then Vicki made a deal with the original witch and manipulated Matt into performing a spell to pull her back into the real world…when Vicki told Matt she was going to kill Elena he realized he screwed up, so he narced on himself to Bonnie. Right now Bonnie's performing a spell to send her back to the other side and if Matt stops thinking about her, Vicki is history."

"Oh wow," Cassie commented offhandedly as she glanced back at the frozen image on the screen, "Matt's kinda cute…He looks really sad though, like he's gonna cry."

"He's a looser," Faye replied, fuming a little as she abruptly turned the TV off. She tossed the remote next to her on the nightstand. "He had the chance to get his sister back…He loved her…and he blew it."

"So did his sister go back to the spirit world?" Cassie asked curiously suddenly realizing from what she had just said that Faye must have already watched the scene play out before. She flinched a little when Faye turned her head back her way, her annoyance seeming to be directed at her now.

"Who gives a rat's behind where she goes. Her character's off the show for good. No more Vicki Donovan hotness."

Cassie nodded her head, a little intimidated by the piercing look Faye was giving her. "So, uh…is this what you wanted to show me?"

A half smirk flashed a mere moment at the corner of her lips. "Of course not.

"So what did you have in mind?" Cassie asked, a flicker of interest raising her brow.

Faye studied her for a few long moments and then she wiggled her eyebrows. "Aren't you supposed to be reflecting? I think you need a spanking you naughty witch." The smirk was back, but her tone was completely serious and not quite sure what to say to a comment like that Cassie pursed her lips in thought.

Faye could get so aggressive sometimes; there were times when she half-expected her to start swinging at her and then the next second she would be very sweet. The change in her mood was always so abrupt and unexpected, it was unnerving…not that she wanted to leave. In fact that was why she enjoyed Faye's company so much, Cassie decided, suddenly noticing Faye was studying her with clear amusement.

"I love it when you do that."

"Do what?" Cassie asked perplexed more than ever now.

"That thing you do with your mouth when you're thinking." She leaned in and reaching over, traced Cassie's lips with her finger tip ever so lightly, before moving her hand away and placing it in her lap…the jangle of bracelets on her wrist making a clinking sound. "It's really sexy."

"Oh," was all Cassie could say, but of course it took her several seconds to come up with that.

"Yes, that's it exactly," Faye chuckled and then took a full breath and released it before she pulled away from her to stretch across her bed. Rolling over on her stomach she reached over to her nightstand and flipped open a box, selecting one potion and then changing her mind and selecting another. Cassie bit her lip nervously when she suddenly sat up in front of her, a potion in one hand and what looked to be a blindfold in the other. "So are you ready?"

"Uh…I'm not really um..."

Turning her head away, Faye aimed her gaze across the room. Not sure what she was planning, Cassie immediately noticed the power and energy crackling in the air as her ipod lit up and began playing music through the docking port it was resting in.

"I love this song," she said, opening up the vial of potion, taking a sip and sighing. She offered Cassie the vial but she quickly declined with a shake of her head.

"So, uh…what kind of potion is that?" she asked after letting her breath out, which she'd been cautiously holding until Faye twisted the top back on the vial.

She wiggled her eyebrows again, "I call it…magic and mayhem. Nick brewed it up. It was the last potion he made before…"

Cassie held her gaze and nodded slightly, not wanting to dampen the moment with negative feelings.

"Do you like this kind of music?" Faye asked Cassie, the both of them sensing it might be best to change the subject.

"What is it?"

"Love Shot…it's by the Blue Van."

Although it was a song she'd never heard before, Cassie nodded. "It's a little weird and kinky for my taste…but I can get into it."

Faye's lip twitched and her eyes twinkled with concealed humor. Cassie's face flushed, suddenly realizing where Faye's mind had veered off to…that is if it had ever left.

"That's awesome," she replied and then a serious expression suddenly settled onto her features. "Do you like me Cassie?"

"Of course," Cassie replied, not even having to think about it. She laughed a little before asking, "Do you like me?"

Faye smirked and then leaned in and met her lips in a kiss. It wasn't an intensely passionate kiss like from the night before, but a softer kind with yearning, yet still, it hit Cassie just as hard. When they broke away, Cassie pursed her lips in thought wanting to say that she guessed that was a yes, that Faye liked her…a lot. But then Faye beat her to the punch, ever the blunt one.

"Oh for God's sake Cassie I can't stand this anymore. I'm so hot for you. Can we just fuck already?"

Smirking a bit herself now, Cassie lay back against the pillows on Faye's bed, her heart racing with excitement. "Yes," she said simply, and Faye swooped down upon her lips once again, and though Cassie had never experienced it before, the music playing loudly in the background created a harmonious whole, as if she could really feel it and see it, until it almost felt like it was a part of her.

**A.N.** Should I continue with this? Oh and by the way, thanks LovinLife18 for the song suggestion. It's perfect for them.


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 10

After a hot and heavy make-out session on Faye's bed with half of their clothes still on Faye and Cassie paused their sweet early afternoon tryst when Faye decided that her magic and mayhem potion had given her a strong case of the munchies. By now they were so comfortable in each others presence that even though they were both down to their underwear they didn't think much about going downstairs to get some snacks. At what point Cassie realized that Faye's idea of 'snacks' didn't involve a whole heck of a lot of carbs isn't quite clear…

"What the hell Cassie, I told you not to peak."

"Sorry...I couldn't help it," Cassie said, pulling the blindfold back down over her eyes. "I heard metal clanking and I thought you were going to handcuff me or something."

"That was probably my bracelets you heard. Geeze lighten up already."

"I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"Well don't be, I don't pull out the whips and chains until the second date."

"Ha ha, very funny Faye."

"I'm glad you think so Cassie, but who said I was making a joke."

"Okay, that's it. I'm taking this thing off." Yanking the blindfold off her eyes, Cassie could see that Faye had one hand behind her back. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, not at all." Young maybe, but innocent, no…Cassie knew Faye well enough by then to determine when she was putting on an act. It was extremely obvious to her the dark haired girl was trying to pull the wool over her eyes…or in this case…the bright red silk scarf that she had turned into a blindfold.

"Let me see your hand then," she said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously, but her thoughts elated...Faye Chamberlain was at that very moment half naked and straddling her lap. What hot-blooded teenage witch in Chance Harbor wouldn't be ecstatically happy about that?

"Fine…it's just a little something for a game I thought you might enjoy," Faye pouted. "But obviously you don't trust me enough to play it with me."

Cassie grinned a little at the cute look on her face and tried to peak around behind her, but Faye shifted her position in the large oversized leather chair they were sharing in the middle of her living room, being careful not to let her see. "Come on Faye just show me what it is."

"You really want to see?" she asked a quick grin appearing on her face and then disappearing just as quickly, and as she took a can of cool whip from behind her, Cassie's eyes immediately flicked back to search Faye's. "So you want to play the game?"

"Sure, why not," Cassie said without any hesitation and Faye's face lit up in a smile.

"First you have to put the blindfold back on," she instructed her and Cassie, being the good little witch that she was, did as she was told.

As she was putting it on, she did feel a little silly about it, but at the same time a lot turned on. Once she had the blindfold back in place she heard the sound of the can being shaken up and then there was a brief silent pause before Faye started spraying a long line of cool whip across the top of her breasts. It felt a little cold and was a pretty weird sensation...and then she couldn't help it, Cassie started to giggle nervously.

"Well that's a mood dampener," Faye said, sounding annoyed.

"Sorry," Cassie explained. "I just feel a little weird about doing this kind of thing…in your house…in the middle of the living room. What if your mom comes home?"

"Yet another mood dampener for sure," Faye sighed. "But although the danger of getting caught might just add to the excitement, my mother never comes home in the middle of the day."

"Are you sure?" Cassie asked.

"Positive! Now stop boring me with your absurdities and tell me how hot this makes you feel."

With the blindfold still in place Cassie couldn't physically see the exact moment Faye dove in to satisfy her craving. But she sure as heck could feel it. She could feel Faye's tongue sliding down the same path the cool whip can had taken, blazing a trail of heat and seduction across her skin.

"So what are the rules of this game," Cassie asked Faye, not really wanting to interrupt her, but she was extremely curious by nature and she wanted answers to every little thing that might hold Faye's interest.

Cassie could feel Faye's grin as she dipped deeper down into her cleavage. "There _are_ no rules, silly witch." She popped her head up for a short moment to add, "But don't forget. It's my turn next."

Already a little breathless and feeling overly warm from Faye's expert administrations, Cassie gulped at the prospect of returning the favor.

Nom Nom indeed!

Little did Faye and Cassie know at that exact moment Dawn Chamberlain, in a cloud of guilt over Nick's death, was taking a break from ushering students into grief counseling, and stepping into her shiny new gold Lexus SUV, to make the short commute back home to check on her daughter whom she'd allowed to stay home from school that day due to her waking up with a hang-over like headache. Of course she had no clue whatsoever that Faye's ailment that morning was actually a side-effect from consuming too much will-bending potion the night before...the same potion Nick had helped Faye make quite a few weeks prior to his death...karma much?

**A.N.** Okay, I'm aware this may be riding a fine line between teen and mature. If you think it merits a more mature rating, let me know and I'll think about scooting it over to the next rating. Hope you're enjoying this so far!


	11. Chapter 11

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

**Warning** - There's a little more sexuality in this chapter than my usual. But IMHO it's not much. Still if you don't like that sort of thing hit the back button located at the top left hand side of your screen.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 11

"So," Faye said. "You still thinking this is a little weird?" She lowered her head again, slowly kissing her way up Cassie's thigh.

"Wh...what?" Cassie asked in a strained far away voice, and then as if mentally shaking herself she answered, "No…it's…kinda…se…sweet jesus Faye…if you keep that up I'm going to explode!"

"Isn't that the idea?" Faye drawled as she adjusted her kneeling position to better reach the inner portion of Cassie's thigh, where the trail of cool whip she'd strategically placed a few moments earlier began. "Mmmmmm…you got that right this is very very sweet…"

"Oh my god …you're killing me with all of this teasing…"

Faye stopped licking and nibbling. "Well at least you'll die with a smile on your face," she said with a lascivious grin.

Cassie lifted up one end of the blindfold. "I thought we came downstairs for snacks. I'm beginning to think you just wanted to get in my pants." She pursed her lips in a sexy pout and Faye felt her libido begin to stir anew.

"Can you blame me? You're so freakin' hot Cassie." Faye smirked. "In fact I think you're a little too hot." She picked up the can of cool whip. "Maybe you need some more of this to help cool you down."

Later…after using up more than half of the cool whip Faye was licking the remnants from her mouth as well as her fingertips, when a sudden thought occurred to her.

This was her first official date with Cassie and things were already getting hot and heavy…not that she was complaining or thinking that was a bad thing…not really, in fact, not at all…and still it made her wonder. Cassie had said that she liked her, and she definitely liked Cassie. But what did that mean?

It wasn't just a physical attraction she was feeling…it was more like chemistry. Something had sparked between Cassie and her right from the start…something hidden just beneath the surface that had clicked for them in a sexual way. It was new and it was exciting and she had no idea what to call it.

Was it lust? Infatuation? Whatever this was between them was more than just a simple crush of that she was sure...

"Faye?"

The soft and somewhat breathless way Cassie had spoken her name pulled Faye out of her thoughts. She'd been calling out her name like that quite a lot in the last few minutes, however this time it sounded more subdued. Faye caught her bottom lip lightly under her top teeth as she watched Cassie readjust her underwear and bra.

"What's wrong?" she asked and when Faye didn't answer she saw a questioning and concerned look cross over Cassie's features. She didn't want Cassie to start worrying about what this was between them, nor did she want to ruin the game and tarnish the perfect day they were having together, so she hid her confusion as best as she could and offered Cassie her trademark smirk as a distraction.

"I believe it's my turn now."

"Oh...right," Cassie said, a dose of enthusiasm helping to quell her slight anxiousness.

After trading positions in the chair, with a rather uncharacteristic smirk of her own Cassie handed Faye the red silk scarf she'd been wearing as a blindfold and Faye handed Cassie the can of cool whip. Faye placed the scarf over her eyes and tied it securely in place and then she waited with a strange mix of anticipation and restlessness when she heard the can being shaken up.

"So where do you want me to uh…put the cool whip?" Cassie asked after a few long torturous moments and Faye sighed in slight exasperation. _Duh Cassie, wasn't my prior demonstration enough of a clue-in for you?_

"Don't be such a bobble-head Cassie. You may be blonde but I know you're not stupid. You're not supposed to ask me where. You make the decision. That's the whole point of this…"

"Oh," Cassie said interrupting her. "I get it now, I can choose wherever I want and you have no say in it right?"

"Exactly," Faye said, glad that they were finally on the same page.

Faye jumped a little when she suddenly felt the cold metal can being placed down the center of her chest and then had to hold back a flinch when in the next instant Cassie squirted a large amount of cool whip down into her cleavage under her bra, not exactly the sensual or erotic feel she'd been expecting, she thought as she squirmed a little on the leather chair. She was just starting to wonder suspiciously if that had been Cassie's objective, when Cassie did it again, only this time she placed the tip of the can under each cup of her bra. Feeling confused, and rather damp and sticky, Faye reached up and lifted her blindfold.

A touch of annoyance filled Cassie's ocean blue eyes. Faye remembered seeing that exact same look on her face when, with the help of the will bending potion, she'd compelled a kiss from her that had revealed their feelings for each other.

"Bobble-head? Really Faye?"

Faye's brow rose and she let out a breath when she finally realized that Cassie was retaliating for her earlier remark to her. "Don't be so pouty," she said irritably. "You had to have known that I was only joking."

"How would I?" Cassie asked in a snarky tone. "Dumb blondes don't get jokes." And with that she reached over and started spraying a swirl of cool whip under Faye's nose and around her mouth.

Faye could feel the sticky desert topping dripping from her chin and down onto her chest, and she might guess, looking a lot like she had a soggy goatee. "Oh no you didn't," she said in surprise.

"Yes…I did," Cassie replied, and despite her annoyance that Cassie was worrying about getting even with her for something she'd said in jest, instead of reciprocating the pleasure she'd given her, the cute grin on Cassie's face made Faye smile. But of course she couldn't let the bratty little witch get away with whatever she wanted.

"You are so going to get it," she said, with feigned anger.

Quickly reaching down into her cleavage Faye scooped out some of the cool whip and began smearing it all over Cassie's chin and cheeks and then as Cassie sat there letting her, she dipped down into her bra again before adding more to the area under her nose.

"Love the look," she said with a chuckle as she sat back in the chair to admire her handiwork. "Normally I'm not that into beards, but it looks good on you."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Side burns?" Faye asked Cassie cheekily.

"It may be your turn, but I still have the upper hand." Her eyes narrowed, but Faye knew Cassie wasn't being serious. "Your not playing the game right," she told Faye.

"So what are you going to do about it?" she challenged Cassie laughingly.

"I'm not sure," Cassie replied meditatively.

"Well then…you know what they say about rules." Faye eyed the can in Cassie's hand, and then she quickly made a grab for it, catching Cassie by surprise. "They were meant to be broken," she concluded trying to pull the can out of her hand, but Cassie didn't let go. A tug of war ensued, both girls equally determined and pulling their hardest.

"Faye, let go of the can," Cassie said with a smile that was only somewhat forced, and then, as if trying to gain leverage, she stood up; still tugging with all of her might…in fact she was tugging so hard Faye thought she might be using magic, especially when she somehow managed to jerk her right out of the chair.

"You're using magic," she accused her once she'd regained her footing.

"No I'm not," Cassie replied, but the high-caloric desert topping running down her face and into her mouth already proving that she was in a feisty mood, Faye suspected otherwise.

"I don't believe you," she said, thinking there was no way the slightly smaller girl could have pulled her up on her own.

"You should try eating more carbs, it gives you more energy and strength."

Faye held on, her face going red with the effort and the knowledge that Cassie was using magic on her. She'd never liked that Cassie was the stronger witch in their group, even now, it still pissed her off. She pulled harder, but she couldn't stop the forward progress. Cassie was slowly but surely pulling her across the floor out of the living room and towards the stairway. Cassie looked at her and smirked and Faye's eyes narrowed in frustration and then both of their gazes flickered towards the can of cool whip they were stubbornly fighting for dominance over.

"Can...spray!" Faye said beating Cassie to the punch and with neither of them holding down the nozzle, the entire remainder of the cool whip began to empty out. Luckily for Cassie, Faye had directed the spray towards the entranceway…Unluckily for the both of them, the front door opened and in walked Dawn Chamberlain, who'd come home early from school to see if her daughter was feeling better. Her monumental effort to act like a loving and caring parent was rewarded by a face-full of cool whip.

**A.N.** I'm thinking the next chapter might be from Dawn's point of view. What do you think?


	12. Chapter 12

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 12

"Faye?" Dawn queried in astonishment, as she tried to clear away the mass of whatever it was her daughter and her friend had attacked her with from her eyes, nose and mouth. And when she could see and breathe again she felt extremely compelled to ask. "What did you do to me…I'm so…covered in…"

"Yeah…I know," Faye asserted, and then flashing somewhat of a triumphant grin in Cassie's direction she brought a blue and white can out from behind her back. "Cool Whip…the whip-smackin', lip-smackin' one."

"Faye…don't," Cassie said, as if warning her not to be a smart-alec but Dawn knew from experience it would take more than words to take her daughter in hand. "Mrs. Chamberlain I'm so sorry…Faye and I…we were j-just…"

Catching Cassie's eye again, Faye drew her fingers in a warning motion across her mouth, pretending to zip up her lip and throw away the key.

As Dawn was recovering from the shock of being blasted with a face-full of half melted desert topping, through blurry stunned eyes, there was a long silent pause as her brain struggled to make sense of what she was witnessing. Feeling more of the cool whip still dripping down her face; she dropped her purse on the entranceway table and reached for a handful of tissues from the Kleenex box. As she swiped them across her forehead, she quickly determined that what she _could _make sense of was making her very very angry. A wave of indignation washed over her as she realized that, even though she had caught them practically red handed, Faye and Cassie were conspiring to keep the truth from her. Tired of the lies and all the pretending, for once she wasn't able to shake it off.

Not wanting her neighbors to catch a glimpse of what had been going on in her house while she was away at work, or witness what would soon _be _going down in her house, she kicked the door closed behind her, using the heal of her stiletto shoe since her hands were so sticky. Both Faye and Cassie jumped a little when it slammed shut, but Faye stood her ground when her angry gaze landed on her.

"What have you two been up to?" she asked sternly, still dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"It should be blatantly obvious," Faye answered with a smirk. "Cassie and I were playing a game."

Recognizing her daughter's playfully defiant tone, Dawn looked her straight in the eye and gave her a cautionary signal of her own, warning her what would happen if she continued to tread down that path. After the emotionally draining day she'd had at work, and after cleaning up the mess from the night before...the heart wrenching end result of Cassie and Faye foolishly releasing that demon she'd summoned all those years ago...and then _this! _She was _not_ in the mood for any attitude from Faye at all. Snatching the empty can out of her daughter's hand, she set it down on the entranceway table and grabbed the Kleenex box.

"Wipe that ridiculous look off your face…" she said, and holding out the box of tissues, she shot a quick scowl towards Cassie, "…the both of you."

"Yes ma'am," Cassie said and both girls obediently reached over to take a handful of tissues out of the box. Dawn smirked ever so slightly. Sometimes the bigger picture made her overlook the smaller picture that was just as important.

She set the Kleenex box back down, figuring with Faye's wild rebellious streak in full bloom that she wasn't going to get the quick answers that she needed, so she glanced around the room to better access the situation as Cassie and Faye continued to wipe the evidence of their misbehavior from their faces. That they were both half naked, wearing nothing but their bra and underwear, was a disturbing thought in itself she decided as she followed the trail of melting desert topping to the living room with her eyes, but what where they doing with her fire-red silk scarf, she wondered when she noticed it hanging over the large oversized chair, and then she turned around to confront her daughter when another thought struck her.

"It seems as if you've recovered from whatever _ailment_ that was troubling you earlier."

"With no help from you," Faye replied bitterly. "But don't worry Mother, after a little TLC from Cassie I'm feeling much better." Her eyes flashing with anger, and coloring almost to green with emotion, Faye turned to climb the stairs. "Come on Cassie. I'm bored. Let's go take a shower."

"Don't you dare turn your back on me young lady! This conversation is not over!" She grabbed for Faye's arm, digging her fingers deep into her flesh and yanking her back around. "You lied to me this morning, didn't you?"

Dawn was furious; she couldn't believe the audacity of Faye to lie right to her face earlier that morning. She'd thought she had been feeling ill and grieving over Nick's death, if this was her actual motive behind staying home from school, before the day was done she'd make darn good and sure her backside would match the color of that scarf!

"Ow! Let go of me!" Faye said sounding furious when she realized Dawn was forcibly detaining her.

"Stop it Faye. I am _not_ done talking to you."

"Well I'm done talking to you," she replied with a quick tug on her arm. "Now let me _go_!"

Suddenly breaking free from her grasp, Faye fell back a few steps and onto the stairway. In the same instant Dawn felt an unseen force slowly propelling her backwards until she was pressed up against the front door. Confused, Dawn looked from Faye to Cassie, having recognized the feel of magic. She didn't know who looked more shocked, Cassie or Faye. But which witch was the culprit? Her daughter had never used her powers against her before the circle was bound, no matter how tense things got between them, so she highly doubted Faye had done that to her, which could only mean one thing.

Amelia Blake's daughter had used magic on her.

Dawn seethed inwardly as she looked at Cassie standing there, pretending to be all sweet and innocent, tightening her arm around Faye protectively. It was frustrating not to be able to say or do anything to her, since she couldn't acknowledge that she knew they were practicing magic. Back in the day if any one of the members of her circle had used their magic abilities to try to harm her, she would have retaliated with a searing bolt of her own magic aimed right at their buttocks.

She'd been stripped of her powers long ago, but there was still one way she could get even with Cassie as well as make Faye admit that she'd lied to her Dawn decided, and then turning her attention discretely back to her daughter she said, "You and I are going to have a long talk later Faye."

"And I'm so looking forward to that," Faye drawled with a sarcastic eye roll that normally would have had Dawn seeing red again, but she chose to ignore it for now. "Can we go shower now?"

"Just one more thing," she said glancing at the petite blonde witch. "Cassie, does your grandmother know you skipped school today?"

"Um…I d-don't really know..." Cassie said, her nervous stutter giving her a definitive answer.

"Well since you're not really sure, I guess while you two are showering I'll give her a call and find out."

Dawn reached down into her purse and as she pulled out her phone, she watched a trepidatious look wash over Cassie's face and grinning inwardly thought, _I may no longer be a full-blooded one-hundred-percent witch, but I'm still a cold-blooded one-hundred-percent bitch._

"I think she might have called me in sick," Cassie said, but of course, being the principal at her school, Dawn already knew that.

"And _are_ you sick?" she asked.

"No...I'm grounded," Cassie said, affirming her suspicion.

"And yet here you are," she replied. "Over at my house, playing games with my daughter." Dawn started searching for Jane's phone number on her cell, even though she knew she wouldn't find it on her contact list.

"So…uh, you're really going to call my grandmother?" Cassie asked and when she knitted her brow and gave her a slight nod, Cassie swallowed nervously.

"It wasn't her fault," Faye finally confessed. "I invited her over. So we could hook up."

"Hook up?" Dawn asked. She frowned when Faye sighed as if in exasperation.

"Oh for god's sake…you're a high school principal. You should know what that means."

Suddenly Dawn realized she didn't really want to hear the truth, but Faye filled her in anyway.

"Cassie and I hooked up because we're attracted to each other…We had sex…There! done!"

**A.N.** So of course Faye is grounded. But with Nick's funeral coming up I'm sure Dawn will grant her a short reprieve. lol Anyway…should I go on with this? And if so at what point should I continue the story? I thought maybe a shower scene between Cassie and Faye, but then they've both already been so naughty I'm not sure they deserve it. lol Oh and did I nail Dawn? Might have made her a bit too aggressive, but then she is a scheming little *itch isn't she?

**A.N.** Okay I think I decided there will be one more chapter directly following this before I move on...thanks BDazzle21 you're right...I missed one important detail...I finished up the chapter kind of late so I'll blame that blunder on lack of sleep. lol


	13. Chapter 13

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 13

**"Cassie and I hooked up because we're attracted to each other…We had sex…There! done!"**

Faye couldn't have been any more blunter if she tried. Silence filled the air. Despite all the clues, her mother hadn't known. To say that Dawn and Cassie were stunned would be an understatement. That's what happens when one blurts out secrets before checking.

"I'm not sure I understand this," her mother said.

"Why would you even want to?"

Faye shuddered at the next thing that popped into her head…didn't her mother have her own budding new relationship with Diana's father to worry about?...and then she promptly stored the thought away until she needed it.

"Because I was under the impression you two were just friends," her mother told her and although she was already bored with the conversation, Faye raised her brow in Cassie's direction.

"Friends?" she questioned, the broody look on Cassie's face vaguely registering in her head as they both stood at the bottom of the stairway clad only in their bra and underwear, still hot from their tug of war between them and smelling of a strange mix of desire and imitation whipped cream.

'Friendship' had never really been the right word to describe what they had, she decided. It was more an underlying tension that had been building from the first day they'd laid eyes on each other that could only be released in one way. It wasn't really something Faye could explain without using words or phrases that her mother might find vulgar or crude, so she fell back on the standard reply.

"We're more than friends. We have a connection, don't we Cassie…"

Her forehead creasing into a scowl, Cassie nodded ever so slightly as she briefly glanced her way. "Yea," she said and even that was a little more tentative than Faye would have hoped for. And what was that look all about?

"And when did this connection begin Faye? Was it before or after Nick's death?"

More than a little annoyed that her mother was getting all paternal and feeling confused as to what she might be implying, Faye was more concerned with finding the meaning behind Cassie's angry glare. Was she mad at her for revealing their secret?

"Faye?" her mother prodded her.

Already having thrown caution out the window, Faye smirked, thinking why stop now as Cassie looked away, continuing to ignore her questioning glances. "Our common interests magically brought us together the day we met," she said hoping to get a reaction out of her.

Cassie's brow rose and then she narrowed her eyes at Faye before attempting to rescue her from herself as well as her mother's grilling. "Mrs. Chamberlain, I'm really sorry about what happened. Faye and I might have gotten a little carried away…"

"Might have?" Dawn interjected. Her eyes flicked over Cassie's body, taking in her state of undress. When Cassie shifted a little, uncomfortable under her lingering judgmental gaze, Faye tried to direct her mother's focus back to her.

"We were having a little fun, to take our minds off of Nick's death." She shrugged. "It was just a game," she said, her gaze drifting across the entranceway and into the living room and coming to rest on the blindfold still draped over the chair. But hardly innocent, she thought to herself with another smirk. When her mother raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips, Faye stifled a groan, recognizing the look she got right before delivering one of her long winded lectures.

"Sex is no game Faye," she began, at which point Faye rolled her eyes and immediately tuned her out. She glanced back at Cassie to try to catch her eye again, but she didn't look her way, she was too busy pretending to be listening intently to her mother's every word. Or was she pretending?

Faye tucked her bottom lip under her top teeth in thought. Despite the fact that she was probably going to be grounded for like, ever she was very pleased her plan to keep her mother from calling Cassie's grandmother had worked, although it seemed to have backfired in the worst way, because now Cassie was mad at her.

Faye frowned, thinking her anger might have something to do with the fact that she'd just basically outed them to her mother. She was sure her mother had already figured it out anyway so she hadn't really thought it was that big of a deal. She hoped Cassie wouldn't stay irritated with her for very long or leave her house in a pissed off huff…

"…word I'm saying Faye?"

Faye shifted her attention back to her mother, realizing she had just asked her something.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening. Can you repeat that question?" At the obviously annoyed and angry look washing over her mother's face, Faye realized her error to late. She sighed, cursing her inability to stay focused when she was bored.

"The both of you…Go shower," her mother snapped. "Now!"

Faye cringed at her mother's stern tone. She was a little shocked that the lecture was over so soon, but then again, at the thought of taking a nice, warm shower with Cassie you didn't have to tell her twice. She quickly headed upstairs with Cassie, and was half-way to the top of the landing before her mother realized her mistake.

"Cassie, you can use Faye's shower, Faye you use mine," she added and Faye mumbled a curse. She was still pouting at the disappointment when her mother remembered something else.

"Oh and Faye? You're grounded for the rest of the month!"

About twenty minutes later…

_"Cassie and I hooked up because we're attracted to each other…We had sex…There! done!"_

Faye's words rang in Cassie's head as she hurriedly slipped her jeans on. And as she brushed her still damp hair back out of her eyes and reached for her pair of ugg boots. She yanked them on angrily as Faye watched her reflection in the mirror, caught her eye and smiled at her. Cassie promptly ignored her. She was still mad at her for outing her to her mother, the principal of her school, a friend of her grandmother's. Sure she'd done it as a tactical subterfuge to shift her mother's focus away from the more legitimate issue. But shouldn't she have consulted her first? It would have been nice to have a say in that kind of decision. These kinds of feelings she had were all so brand new. She hadn't even figured them out in her mind, let alone in her heart. How could Faye have made that kind of assumption for her?

"Hey you know you shouldn't be upset, frowning might give you permanent wrinkles and if you start loosing your looks, I might not want to date you anymore."

Cassie shot daggers at Faye as she watched her approach her. She was always blurting things out, always saying and doing the wrong thing. Sure her blatant honesty was refreshing, if sometimes majorly disturbing, but it was always what was right for _her_ at the moment and her moral code was as flexible as a monkey on crack.

Faye sat down beside her on her bed, leaned over unexpectedly and sweetly kissed her forehead. "I'm not going to apologize for outing us Cassie. And I already told you, my mom's not going to blab to anyone that her daughter likes girls. She's too worried about her image. And if you don't want to blow your good-girl cover with your grandma, I suggest you brush your hair, climb into that miserable excuse for transportation out front and get your sexy little butt home."

Cassie picked up the hair brush Faye had just set down next to her and then quickly laid it back down again. She shouldn't be listening to her or giving in to her demands. Her impulsive nature was at the heart of every trouble she'd gotten herself into lately.

"You're right Faye," she said, turning her gaze away from her to stare across the bed at the box of magical potions she kept on her nightstand, "I am the good-girl. Most of the time anyway. What am I even doing here with you? We're like fucking polar opposites."

Leaning in, Faye pressed her body against her and said softly into her ear, "Because sometimes you like to do bad, bad things."

Cassie turned, searching the pair of teasing hazel-green eyes and a quiet sigh escaped her as her gaze dropped and Faye's mouth turned up in a grin. "Oh gee," she said. "I wonder what else we have in common." Her lips pursed in thought for a long time Cassie looked at her, trying to figure out what attracted her to Faye in the first place, why she felt so compelled to kiss her one minute and say or do something she might regret to wipe the troublesome smirk from her face the next, finally she gave up, shrugged and picked up the brush.

"You're going to forgive me," Faye said after a few long moments had passed between them.

"Why?" Cassie asked pausing from brushing her hair, somewhat leery of any compelling potions that might be lying around, but there were no compelling potions, only Faye's smile.

"Because I'm too fascinating and gorgeous for you to even consider walking out on."

Rolling her eyes, Cassie tossed the brush on the bed and stood up to leave. Faye stood up also and taking her hand, laced her fingers with hers.

"And because I couldn't stand it if you didn't." With that said Faye leaned forward and kissed Cassie on the lips. The kiss was short and sweet and despite her feelings of frustration and annoyance, Cassie immediately wanted more. She was just leaning in to continue the kiss when Faye's mother interrupted them.

"Faye…"

Cassie quickly pulled away from Faye to see Dawn standing in the doorway. Blushing, she tried to disentangle her hand from Faye's, but Faye held on tightly. "Yes, Mother?"

Dawn put her hand on her hips and glared at Faye.

"I'm leaving in five minutes to head back to work. Besides school and Nick's wake you won't be seeing your friends until Halloween. And if I find out otherwise, I'm doubling your grounding. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Faye said softly and rather meekly and Cassie was a little surprised at her lack of protest. Though she really couldn't blame her, her mother was really scary when she was angry.

"Alright. I'll see you when I get back," Dawn said and then she smiled at Faye affectionately. Or so she thought. Was that an affectionate smile? She glanced at Cassie briefly before turning to leave, her gaze raking over her from head to toe, making her feel a little anxious, like she was giving her some kind of warning. Whatever it was it wasn't nice. Once she walked away Cassie picked her jacket up off the bedpost and began putting it on.

"I better go now," she said.

Faye watched her almost sadly until she'd donned her jacket and was jiggling the keys in her pocket.

"Wait," she said, her eyes flashing with a hint of her strength and spirit. "I need to ask your opinion on something first." Crossing the room she swung open her closet door and stepped inside only to pull out a black strapless mini dress with silver detailing a few seconds later. "I was thinking about wearing this to Nick's wake…what d'ya think, too flashy?"

"It's cute, but there's too much glitz, and it's too short."

After hanging that one back in her closet she rummaged inside for a few seconds more before pulling out another dress. "What about this one?"

"Still too short." Cassie frowned, not even bothering to mention that red wasn't an appropriate color to wear to a wake. She had a feeling Faye already knew that. "Look Faye, I should probably be heading home now."

"I know I have something in here that will work." She disappeared inside again and Cassie sighed. About a minute later she still hadn't reappeared so Cassie crossed the room to peak inside. "Faye, hurry up, I really have to go."

"Just a sec..."

Stepping into Faye's closet, Cassie watched as she rifled through her wardrobe, which consisted mainly of black, black and more black with a little bit of blue and red thrown in.

"With a color palette like yours, you should be able to find something appropriate to wear to Nick's wake pretty easily."

"Nothing seems right," Faye said spinning around with a frustrated look on her face.

Cassie looked into her eyes and as Faye gazed back, looking both visibly sad and perplexed, as if she were remembering Nick and suddenly thinking that worrying about what to wear to a wake that was two days away should be the last thing on her mind, they looked at each other for a little longer before Faye finally admitted what she'd really been contemplating all that time alone in her closet.

"I wonder what Nick was thinking right before he died."

Not sure if Faye really wanted to hear an answer to that question Cassie gave a mental shrug, figuring she could handle the truth.

"I'm not trying to be morbid about it, but probably not a lot since the demon had possession of him. I don't think you should dwell on that subject anymore. It only makes things harder."

"Maybe it should be harder for us. We performed a spell that started all of this and besides your grandmother grounding you for two days, we basically got off scot-free."

"So what more do you think we deserve Faye? I know we played a big part in it, but Nick's death really wasn't our fault. No one was telling us anything. And then when Zachary tried to kill me, we needed to find out what really happened that night on the boat and that led us to Heather. She was the only one left that could give us the answers we were searching for. If we had known about the demon we wouldn't have…"

"You don't need to recap for me Cassie, I was there." Faye rolled her eyes as soon as the words were out of her mouth. "Look I didn't mean to muddy the pretty picture you were trying to paint. You're right, if we had known about the demon, we wouldn't have performed the spell."

Cassie sighed, knowing she was right but not feeling any better about it herself either. "I really should be heading home now Faye. My grandmother's shift is almost over." She turned to leave but then stopped just short of the closet doorway when she thought of something. "Faye?"

"Yes?"

"Before, when your mother grabbed your arm and was acting…" she hesitated before continuing, but Faye had no problem filling in the blank for her.

"Like a bitch?" she said and then she shrugged. "I'm used to that kind of reaction from her…among other things."

Cassie blinked in surprise, not able to process that any more than she had been able to sort out the reasons why she had used her powers to stop Faye's mom from hurting her.

Stepping closer, she locked her arms around Faye in a tight embrace to lessen the sting she had unintentionally put in her eyes.

"My mom loves me…I know she does," Faye said as she hugged her back. They held each other like that for a few long moments before Faye pulled away to say, "I mean did you see the size of that flat screen TV I got for my birthday?"

"I know," Cassie said with a smile. "Your mom really spoils you." Faye masked her pain behind a smile. She did a good job of hiding it from people Cassie thought.

"So what are we going to do now?" Faye asked, staring intently into her eyes.

Cassie smiled. "Well I was thinking we should come out of the closet."

"I don't know Cassie, some little witch told me it might be a bit early in our relationship for something like that."

"You're such a smart ass Faye. Remind me why I like you again?"

"Well that's easy. It's because you think I'm hot."

"I guess that is one of the reasons," Cassie admitted. "You're super sexy. And I know I should go, but I really want to kiss you right now," she said softly. "Can I?"

"Not until you answer my question," Faye said, her expression softer than she'd ever seen it. "Do you think things will ever get serious between us…I mean serious enough that you would be willing to tell people that we're together?" And then she smirked once again ruining the impression Cassie had been getting that she was being earnest. "It will probably keep Adam from practically raping you with his eyes all the time."

"Adam doesn't do that," Cassie said with a laugh. "At least not all the time."

"You know he does," Faye said. "He believes in all that… 'it's written in the stars' crap his father feeds him."

"So I guess in a way his 'destiny' gives him carte blanche to act like a horn dog around me," Cassie said jokingly.

Faye wiggled her eyebrows. "Who needs destiny..."

Cassie laughed, the answer to Faye's question not written in the stars, but in the way her arms wrapped around Faye's waist more securely. "Maybe on Halloween we'll be ready. When you're not grounded anymore," Cassie said with a smile.

Faye returned her smile. "Ready for what? To have a party? Have a serious relationship? Come out to our friends?"

"Yes," Cassie replied and then she leaned in, her lips brushing against hers. "Anything you want," she murmured against Faye's lips.

**A.N.** Hope you enjoyed this part. Thanks for reading and reviewing so far.


	14. Chapter 14

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 14

Faye was lying on her stomach on Cassie's bed, her legs dangling in the air behind her. She had Cassie's Book of Shadows in front of her and she was pouring over it religiously with a slight frown on her face.

Cassie walked into her room with a towel wrapped around her, wet and fresh from the shower. She stopped just outside the bathroom doorway, still in somewhat of a daze after what had happened during Faye's end of grounding Halloween party. The events over the last two weeks had taken their toll on her mind body and soul, but oddly enough, despite a slight nauseous feeling, overall she felt good. Trying to live in the real world as a witch was getting increasingly harder and harder to handle…demons…crescent moons…witch hunters…kidnappings…ritualistic murder…it all seemed so surreal yet the lingering traces of her magic she could feel rippling lightly across her skin told her otherwise.

Her Circle had nearly been killed that night, by a boy from her school. Luke, along with two other members from some kind of secret society of witch haters, had chloroformed and kidnapped them one by one and taken them down to the waterfront with the intent to slaughter them in a fucking witch-hunt ritual! Incensed with rage and frantic to free herself as well as her Circle, she'd called upon her magic and, empowered by her dark thoughts, managed to save them. How the hell had magic even been possible with the ring of iron sulfite encircling everyone. Wasn't it supposed to repress their powers?

Maybe it was true, their magic was ungodly, she concluded. She had sure felt malevolent toward Luke when he was holding that lit match above Diana's cruet. The waves of emotion coursing through her had felt so overwhelmingly forceful and seductive that she had wanted to scream in fear and cry out in sheer delight all at the same time. She'd killed Luke to save her circle…yeah that was disturbing in itself, but what was even more disturbing was that she'd actually taken pleasure in the thought of his death.

"Thousands of spells in here and not one that tells you how to clean up after a party," Faye said, pulling Cassie away from her thoughts.

Her stomach did a gut churning roll, making her feel a little nauseous. She needed some air. She went to the window and unlocked it, pulled it open. The night air was cold and damp and she could feel a soft breeze against her skin. She was on the verge of closing her eyes to let her mind clear, when she saw the light flick on in Jake's room. Pursing her lips, a frown creased her brow. It seemed the closer she got to Jake the more she didn't trust him. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to confuse her, but after tonight, she wasn't fooled.

Faye looked at Cassie with concern as she stood in the corner of her room staring out the window. She'd barely said two words to her since they got back to her grandmother's house. She seemed so completely out of it but she had every reason to be. After all, their Circle had been through hell that night together, Diana, Adam, Melissa…Cassie had saved them all. They'd been drugged and kidnapped, woken up helplessly tied to a chair and without the use of their magic to save them. They had been extremely close to having their lives cruelly and painfully snuffed out when Cassie had tapped into her powers and turned the tables on Luke, setting him on fire. It had only been an hour or so since she'd killed a boy they knew from their school, burned him to a crisp like deep fried bacon. The same fate that would have otherwise fallen upon them all…perhaps it was reasonable that she would be a little moody and quiet.

But still it bothered Faye to not know what was going on in Cassie's mind. She was sure it wasn't pleasant whatever it was, but she knew Cassie was strong. As soon as she realized killing Luke had been the right thing to do, she'd bounce back to her usual cheerful self.

"So much for coming out to our friends tonight," Cassie said as she continued to gaze out the window and then she turned around to look at her as if she had a clear purpose. Her mouth quirked into a hesitant smile that Faye thought easily could become a wince, and though she was glad that it seemed like she was making a quick recovery, it worried her.

"You look a little rattled," she said. "Are you okay?"

Cassie took a breath, and shook her head. "How can there be people out there that hate us so much, you know?" she asked gesturing with her hands to emphasize her point. "We haven't done anything. We didn't choose this. We were born this way."

Faye closed the book over, and pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed. "People don't understand. What they don't understand scares them."

"You seem so calm about it all." Cassie said and wanting to offer her comfort, Faye scooted to the side of the bed. As Cassie edged nearer she spread her legs wider, and drawing Cassie in close, she encircled her arms around her waist protectively.

"I've known our circle of friends longer than you. They might be surprised, but they're not judgy at all." She smirked. "And if I know Diana, she's going to be curious as hell. So once we come out to her, be prepared for a barrage of questions." Faye was about to continue when she noticed the look on Cassie's face, that squinty look she got when she was confused. And then she pursed her lips in thought before giving her a knowing smile.

"I was actually talking about Luke and...whatever that religious zealot group he belonged to...hating us enough to kill us just because we're witches. But we can talk more about when you and I are going to come out of the closet, or…" She wedged a thigh in closer, and smirked at her suggestively as she draped her arms around her neck, "we can have sex so we'll be sure we haven't missed the more intricate details. We do want everyone in the circle to be well informed."

"Hmm…" Faye said as if in thought and then she smiled a toothy grin. "I'd rather not share everything about this new relationship of ours. But I would really like to make love. Two weeks is a long time to go without sex." She slid her hands down lower on Cassie's hips pulling her body closer to hers.

Cassie knit her brows in mock confusion. "Two weeks? Really Faye? I mean…" She blushed a little before continuing. "Have you ever…done magic…on your own?"

Faye had to smile at the way she had phrased that. Despite her majorly awesome display of bravado and her 'don't fuck with my circle' attitude that night, sometimes Cassie was just a normal teenage girl who was shy and modest about her sexuality. Faye however had no problem expressing herself.

"Ever since I met you I can't seem to go a single day without being horny as all hell. Sure I use 'magic' to relieve sexual tension on occasion. Don't you?" Another blush from Cassie had her thinking it might be a better idea to veer from the topic of self-pleasure. After all, there was a much better alternative standing half naked right in front of her. And that wouldn't do at all. Smiling slyly she tugged at the top of Cassie's towel.

"Are you sure your mom knows you're here Faye?" Cassie asked letting it fall to her waist. "I mean you're barely off of your grounding…"

Faye sighed as she scooted back to the center of the bed. The last thing she wanted to be thinking about at that moment was her mother. She paused before reaching under her spaghetti straps and peeling her tank top off. "I'm ungrounded. I have my mother's permission to spend the night. I'm all yours till school tomorrow morning."

Once she had her shirt off, Faye watched with rapt interest as Cassie took her towel the rest of the way off and climbed up on the bed with her legs tucked under her. Using her towel, she started drying her hair with it.

"What about the house Faye? My grandmother's coming home tomorrow and it's still in shambles after the party. There are cups and cans scattered around everywhere and the decorations need to be taken down." She frowned. "I know I'm being a pain. After tonight, all I want to do is kiss you and hold you close and if I don't…" She opened up her mouth to speak again, but Faye pressed a finger to her lips.

"If you don't stop talking I'm going to walk over to that window and use magic to get Jake's attention. And if he comes to the window shirtless, who knows, it might be enough to lure me away from my lesbian ways."

There was an awkward silence where Faye was sure she heard a pin drop. Cassie held her gaze for what seemed like eternity and then her eyes dropped hungrily to her lips. When her eyes dropped even lower to take in the rest of her Faye smirked knowing her attempt at blackmail had gotten the right reaction out of her. Dropping her towel to the floor, Cassie scooted closer as Faye started to remove her underwear. It was at that exact moment that they both heard a noise from outside of the room. It sounded like someone was walking up the stairs.

**A.N**. Hate to ask this again, but should I continue?


	15. Chapter 15

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 15

"Do you hear that?" Cassie asked looking over her shoulder toward the doorway.

"It sounds like someone's coming up the stairs," Faye replied and grabbing her tank top, she hurriedly began putting it back on. "It could be your grandmother. Or worse…"

Her heart already pounding in her chest like a jackhammer, Cassie made a quick lunge across the bed for her night stand, thinking if it was another witch-hunter coming after them, with only the two of them there, they might need the extra boost of magic to fend off an attack. Landing naked, half sprawled across Faye's lap; she reached for the handle and yanked open the top drawer, blindly searching for her crystal with her hand. Suddenly she heard the floor boards at the top of the stairs let out a familiar squeak.

"What are you doing?" Faye asked, as she straightened her shirt, frantically pulling it down over her head and her naked breasts. And then out of reflex, she drew on her magic when she felt Cassie revving up hers, the both of them fully aware that surprises, good or bad, come when least expected.

Her eyes narrowing in steely concentration, Cassie turned her head, and her crystal clutched securely in her hand, she directed it toward the open doorway, her thoughts and emotions centered on one thing…keeping the both of them safe!

"You know Cassie, after all the times you've been attacked in this house, you really need to lock your…front…d-door…"

Along with their tense bodies physically relaxing the moment they recognized Diana's voice, Cassie could feel the magic vibrating through the crystal in her hand as well as Faye's power slowly ebbing away from her when they saw Diana rounding the corner. Breathing a huge mental sigh of relief, Cassie promptly released their combined magic from herself into the environment. Releasing magic from her body took a lot of energy and caused her to gasp a little and shudder a bit making her look and feel like she was having a small anticlimactic orgasm, so it was understandable that it took her a few moments to gather her senses and catch her breath as she lay across Faye's lap.

Hovering half in and half out of the doorway, Diana looked a little uncomfortable as she took in the scene within the bedroom.

"Yes Cassie. I agree with Diana," Faye murmured scowling at the brunette witch, but her scowl soon turned into more of a gleeful smirk when she gave Cassie's backside a light smack. "You really should have locked that door."

Her pulse getting back to normal after the scare, Cassie got up and glanced at Faye, giving her a crooked, sheepish smile as she closed her hand over her crystal to keep it hidden like her grandmother had told her to do. She hoped she hadn't broken it because for some reason, even though she had powered it down she could still feel it pulsating.

"What are you doing here Diana?" Faye asked, as Cassie felt the heat rush to her face. Still tingling a little from the aftereffects of a horny adrenaline laced magic boost, with her free hand she reached for one of her pillows from behind Faye's back to cover herself with. She went to pull it out from behind her but Faye shifted her weight, holding it there firmly in place as a teasing grin spread across her face.

"Stop it Faye," she said in annoyance, thinking she was enjoying her discomfit entirely too much. She tugged the pillow harder just as Faye scooted forward; releasing the hold she had on it unexpectedly. Cassie fell backwards, her crystal flying out of her hand and rolling over the side of the bed. Three sets of eyes turned towards the small object bouncing noisily across the wooden floor.

When Faye saw what it was, her brow rose a little in question, and as if anticipating Cassie's extreme embarrassment, she scooted out of the way and pulled up the covers so she could slide down under them if she wanted too…and oh did she want to, in fact in the next moment she found herself wishing she could crawl under them and hide from Diana's inquisitive gaze.

"Um, hi," Diana said glancing from one to the other. She'd been watching the whole exchange between them with a look of confusion on her face. After a few moments of expectant silence in the room…silence except for the hum of Cassie's small palm sized vibrator that is…she said with a little hint of embarrassment herself. "I'm sorry…I sort of forgot the question…Is that what I think it is?" she asked curiously staring down by her feet.

"That depends on what you think it is," Cassie replied wondering if it was possible to die of embarrassment.

Cassie was aware of Faye quietly laughing next to her as she discreetly powered up her magic again and zapped the main focus of everyone's attention until the batteries went dead. There was an awkward moment or two as everyone exchanged looks waiting for the other to continue the conversation. And then crawling beneath the safe harbor Faye had offered her, Cassie threw the covers over her head. She couldn't believe she'd tried to save Faye and her with her vibrator. How could she have grabbed it instead of her crystal? What kind of leader was she? After a few short beats she felt the covers being lifted up again.

"Come out come out wherever you are," Faye muttered half under her breath. At Cassie's look of confusion she nodded in Diana's direction. "No time like the present."

Peaking out from under the covers, Cassie eyed Diana with uncertainty, realizing that saying you were going to come out to your friends and actually doing it were two different things. Her brow furrowed in thought she squirmed a little uncomfortably under the covers, opened her mouth to say something and then quickly closed it again, deciding she didn't really know what to say.

"You two are together," Diana said, although it was more of a statement.

Reaching down for Cassie's hand Faye grasped it gently as their eyes met in a strong emotional gaze. "Yes," they both confirmed practically almost simultaneously and then they flinched a little when Diana screamed excitedly and ran over to them. Letting go of Faye's hand, Cassie sat up a little straighter, while still trying to maintain her modesty.

"Oh my God." Diana hugged Cassie first and then Cassie hugged her back with the same enthusiasm, which made the both of them tear up a little. It wasn't the first time that night that tears welled up in their eyes. But this time it was an entirely different emotion.

"Oh for god's sake you two," Faye said rolling her eyes, "enough with the theatrics." She tilted her head and gave Diana a warning glance when she made a move to hug her too.

"I can't believe it. I'm so happy for you guys," Diana said backing off a little awkwardly, but less so when she noticed the smile on Faye's face…riding an emotional rollercoaster of the unknown on top of a rather chilling and scary night bringing only a slight dampness to her hazel-green eyes. "When did this happen?"

Cassie looked at Faye before answering, a bit hesitant to say anything. "Two weeks ago?"

Quickly doing the math, Diana said, "Oh." Her eyes widened a little. "So it was…the day Nick died?"

"Don't act so surprised," Faye said, "You know I always go after what I want when I want it." She sighed in exasperation at the look Diana was still giving her. "Look, not everything is perfect Diana. Just because Cassie and I hooked up the day after Nick died, doesn't mean it was wrong."

As she sat on the edge of the bed, Diana turned away and wiped her eyes. She swallowed before saying anything and Cassie could tell from the look on her face that she was upset about something. "You're right. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be judgmental."

She seemed to be on the verge of saying something more on a personal level, maybe about her recent break up with Adam Cassie thought, and she actually took a breath as if to do so, but more impatient than usual with her Faye bluntly cut her off.

"So why are you here Diana?" she asked. "Or should I say why are you _still_ here?"

"Wow Faye," Cassie said in a scolding tone. "That's really rude."

"Whatever," she drawled, not even looking at her. "She hasn't even stated her purpose for her presence."

"Oh…I was just getting ready to go to bed…" Diana said.

"With Adam?" Faye said interrupting her and Cassie looked at her in disbelief wondering why she always had to act like such an insensitive brat to Diana. Not surprisingly, because she was a sweet person, Diana answered her in a nice manner.

"No, Faye…alone... I was all alone in my house, so I came over here…because…I thought Cassie might need some help cleaning up downstairs after the party." She got up off the bed to leave. "If I had known you guys were…" Seeming a little frustrated she waved her hand as if to dismiss the line of conversation, but of course Faye couldn't let that slide.

"Having sex? Yeah thanks Diana for basically cock blocking me." She shrugged. "Or whatever the female version of that would be." Her brow rose and she crossed her arms over her chest. "And on top of that you literally scared the magic out of Cassie and me. What were you thinking sneaking up the stairs like that?

"I'm sorry," Diana said. "I should have realized…I mean after the attack on us tonight that you would be hypersensitive to that sort of thing." Seeming extremely embarrassed now, she turned to leave.

"Diana…wait," Cassie said throwing the covers off to go after her. She jumped out of bed before remembering she wasn't dressed.

"Let her go Cassie. She needs to go back to what she was doing before, whatever that was."

Knowing by the time she got dressed to go after her it would be too late, Cassie spun around at the doorway in exasperation. "She was all alone Faye. After what happened tonight, I think she really needs to be with someone. But since she broke up with Adam…"

"That was her choice Cassie. She made that decision. Maybe Adam is the one for her, maybe he's not. She's the only one that can figure that out."

"And you're such an expert on love?" Cassie scoffed.

Faye visibly winced. "I know enough to realize that when you find the right person it doesn't matter what other people say or think. Adam shouldn't have listened to his dad. He only has himself to blame."

"And what about Diana?" Cassie asked. "She didn't do anything to deserve this."

Faye gave her an incredulous look as she climbed out of bed. "She let him go Cassie," she said as she closed the short distance between them. "She had his love. It was a forever kind of love, and she threw it away. Maybe someday she'll realize her mistake." She looked at Cassie, staring deeply into her ocean blue eyes. "I would never let go of that much love and devotion. Would you?" she asked and a faint look of eagerness appeared in her eyes.

"No of course not," Cassie replied.

Her face lighting up Faye took her hand, entwining her fingers with hers. Cassie shivered a little as they stood there, but not from the damp air coming in through the open window, but from deep within. "Come back to bed Cassie," Faye said, her eyes locked on hers.

Cassie hesitated for only a second before responding. Together they crossed the room and climbed into her bed. They snuggled under the covers and immediately Faye wrapped her arms around her.

"Fuck," Cassie said suddenly remembering something.

"Sounds good to me," Faye replied.

"No," Cassie said, a small smile finding purchase on her lips. "The front door…it's not locked."

"Don't be such a bobble…" Faye started to say and then she stopped herself. "I mean use your magic silly witch."

Not really wanting to traipse downstairs, Cassie closed her eyes to center her thoughts, picturing the single bolt on the front door sliding into place. She listened intently but frowned when she didn't hear anything.

"Try it again," Faye said taking her hand in hers, and with a shiver of remembrance running through her, Cassie did just that. Almost immediately she heard the familiar sound as the metal bolt slid across, securing the door.

"While you're at it how about turning off the light," Faye said.

"Sure," Cassie said with a grin as she let go of her hand to reach over and turn off her bedside lamp.

"Why do you bother doing things manually when together we have such awesome magic?" Faye asked as she watched her, and Cassie smiled before flicking off the light.

"Because some things should be done without magic," she answered her, as she snuggled back under the covers. Reaching for her breasts, she slowly snaked her hand up under Faye's tank top.

"Wow," Faye said giving a little shiver as Cassie cupped her breast and began gently massaging her nipple with her thumb.

"Is something the matter?" Cassie asked, pausing a moment.

"No," Faye said quickly. "You're hands are just cold." She gasped in surprise when Cassie's other hand starting toying with her clit over the top of her underwear, triggering a shudder followed by a few spasms of pleasure.

"Oh God Cassie…that feels so good," she said pushing against her hand. "I need you to…ahhh!"

Cassie smirked when she heard Faye moan as she continued to massage her clit. "What do you need Faye?" she asked and then she paused waiting for an answer.

"I need you," Faye said and Cassie could hear the desire in her voice.

"Is that all?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Well, actually a couple of fingers inside me would be nice too."

Happy to oblige, Cassie tugged at the waistband of Faye's underwear, pulling it down as far as she could.

"I'm sorry if I was a little mean before," she said as Faye lifted up her lower body to allow her to take them off. "I think I might be PMSing. I wonder if we stay together if we'll eventually sink up."

"Maybe," Faye said and then pulling the covers back over them, Cassie's fingers found their way inside her while she fiddled with her clit at the same time. "Yes…just like that…but deeper."

After two weeks of abstinence it didn't take long before Faye was trembling with her first climax. As Cassie paused to give her a chance to catch her breath, Faye thought about what she had just said. The more she thought about it, she could feel her heart sinking.

'_If we stay together?_'

Was Cassie not on the same wavelength as her, she wondered? That what they had together was a forever kind of thing?

**A.N.** So yeah...I finally moved this to an M rating. I'm new to this kind of writing, so reviews/criticism are greatly appreciated. I'll try to slow the steamier scenes down more later if that's what everyone wants. Thanks for so many of you taking the time to encourage me after that last chapter. Hope you enjoyed the light humor in this chapter. If anyone has any ideas for future scenes they'd like to see please feel free to email or review to let me know.


	16. Chapter 16

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 16

Faye lay stretched across the window bench in Cassie's room. It was five o'clock in the morning and they had to get up for school in an hour. She was leaning against the wall, looking up from the pages of the magic book that belonged to Cassie's family every few minutes to watch her as she slept. It was still dark outside, but there was enough moonlight streaming in through the window to see.

She had awoken half an hour earlier from a terrorizing nightmare to find Cassie sleeping peacefully beside her. She had wanted more than anything to steal a kiss from her in the hopes that she might awaken so she could keep her mind from focusing on the dream, but had decided against it thinking, with what had happened the night before and her reaction to it all afterwards, she could use a little more sleep. It was hard to pinpoint what was wrong, but Cassie hadn't been acting like herself since they got back from the waterfront…it wasn't any one thing but an accumulation of little things.

The sex between them had been intense and more passionate than their first time had been, although it had seemed to her that Cassie had been distracted towards the end of it. She smiled a little, still curious what kind of thoughts could have been going through her head while her fingers had been diving in and out of her. Maybe she should have just asked her, but at the time she'd been fairly distracted herself. And what a totally awesome distraction it had been…she'd lost count of how many times they brought each other to climax during their love making session. It was fun and breathtaking as usual, but once their libidos had calmed, they had laid in each others arms afterwards and talked a little about the Halloween party.

In trying to piece together how everyone in their Circle had ended up at the waterfront, they had both agreed that Jake's story had sounded pretty freaking suspicious. There were so many things about him that just didn't add up, the most recent being that on the table during the witch hunter's ceremony there had only been five cruets. Jake had hastily explained that discrepancy away by saying that the masked hunter that had attacked him had slashed his arm and taken his blood before hearing Luke exploding into a ball of flame and running off. But why did Luke and the other witch hunter start the ritual without him…if they had intended to include him in the ceremony then why were there only five chairs within the circle?

Not only did his helpful and friendly aura seem to be steeped in ambiguity, but from the moment he'd shown up in Chance Harbor like a thief in the night, trouble began brewing for their Circle. Cassie had said that they shouldn't trust him and that he was lying about something or at the very least withholding vital information. She had agreed a little guiltily, knowing she was withholding some facts of her own about Jake as well as his brother Nick.

During the course of the conversation she'd debated revealing the secret she'd been keeping for the last two years, hovering between telling Cassie the real reasons behind her break up with Jake, and that long before Melissa had set her sights on him she'd had a one time sexual encounter with his brother Nick. But she'd always taken great pains to hide her private life and old habits were hard to break. If she told her that Jake had left town not long after he'd tried to take advantage of her when she was under the influence of alcohol that might have been a helpful clue as to determining if he was feigning good intentions now or not.

But Jake was at a bad place in his life two years ago, what if he'd changed and the more recent circumstances were being warped out of proportion? Not that she really gave a rat's ass about him either way. Perhaps she was simply rationalizing excuses to avoid the real issue. People always thought she was the bad girl, and that was partially true, but in reality she wasn't as detached and unemotional as she let on. Past events in her life had taught her it was better to keep people at a distance. She had taken a chance by letting Cassie in. If she told her the truth about her past relationships would her perspective of her change?

And what if she told her that after everything that had happened between Jake and her she'd still felt drawn to him, her world had shattered into a million tiny little pieces when he left. The guy was a jerk and when they were together he'd treated her like shit. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she always want what she can't…and shouldn't…have?

To explain the internal battle she was having with herself when she sensed Cassie studying her curiously, she'd told her how scared she had been when the masked stranger had grabbed her while she was out in the front yard looking for Melissa. She'd barely caught a glimpse of him before the chloroform had taken effect, but the sheer terror she'd experienced in those few seconds when she realized she was loosing consciousness and would be unable to defend herself should the need arise was more immense than anything else she had ever felt before.

Wanting to lighten the serious mood that had fallen over them she had jokingly mentioned that if she had a choice she would have preferred her kidnapper to have been the one wearing the skeleton mask rather than the one wearing a pig's face, not that it would have been any less frightening, it was just that _Charlotte's Web_ had always been her favorite book from childhood, but now just the thought of it filled her with dread.

Of course she'd been pulling Cassie's leg, she'd never even read that book, and she'd just said that as a joke. But instead of finding it humorous she had pulled away from her a little and looked at her oddly and, remembering too late that Luke had been the one wearing the skeleton mask, she had wished she hadn't been so thoughtless.

Instead of ignoring the feelings of discomfort that her insensitive comments had stirred up like she normally would have done in the past, she had hugged her and kissed her very sweetly to try to make the pained look on her face go away. It did for short while, but then it came back as Cassie told her what had been going through her mind when Luke was holding Diana's life in his hands.

"I wanted to stop him so badly," she had said. "I could feel the anger building up inside me as I tried frantically to call upon my powers. I pictured the cruet in his hands and, channeling all of my energy I focused on destroying it even though I wasn't sure if it would be possible and knowing Diana's life was depending on me, I screamed out in a frustrated rage. The moment the cruet exploded, I realized that despite the ring of iron sulfate, I could still manipulate my powers. And then, I knew I could do it…I could save us all…but at a price."

"You're right Cassie," she had told her. "Luke had to die. You had no choice. So you shouldn't feel bad about killing him."

"No that's just it Faye," she had said then. "I wanted Luke to die and I wanted to be the one to do it. I hated him for what he was trying to do to us. I was so angry and full of vengeance…He was going to burn us all one by one…for no reason but prejudice. I couldn't let that happen."

She had felt Cassie's heart pounding in her chest at the memory and had thought it might be better to replace the reason with another. A few long, deep passionate kisses later and she was grinding against her hand and moaning. And a few short minutes after that what Cassie then said made her realize her intentions had been fully exposed.

"That was a pretty shameless attempt to try to tease me out of my tense mood."

"Did it work?" she had asked as Cassie gave her a small glare and then she'd tucked her bottom lip under her top teeth while she'd anxiously awaited her response. Cassie's mouth had turned up just a bit in the corners before she'd finally given her the answer she'd been hoping to hear.

"I'll tell you in a few minutes."

They hadn't fallen asleep until a little after midnight, with the amount of magic Cassie had used to save them from their fate, she had been near exhaustion. Normally jealousy would have taken root deep inside her heart by now, but she was glad that Cassie had somehow acquired the ability to use magic on her own and that her powers had been sufficient enough to save them. Sure she was still massively jealous of her newfound ability, but at the moment she wasn't letting it eat her up inside. Instead she was searching for answers in Cassie's book.

Though she hadn't spoken to any of the other members of the Circle about what Cassie was now capable of, she was sure they were just as happy as she was that they had avoided such a gruesome and painful death. No matter how strange and puzzling it was that Cassie had been able to use her powers alone and inside the ring of iron sulfite encircling them, they all had her to thank for saving their lives.

She smiled wickedly as she looked over at Cassie, remembering how many times she had called out her name while in the throws of passion the night before…satisfied that she'd at least made a start at paying her back, her smile turned more delighted when she saw Cassie open her eyes.

"You're awake," she said, letting the Book of Shadows slide from her hands and onto the bench cushion.

Cassie blinked a few times to try to clear the early morning fog from her brain. And then she turned her head a little to glance at the clock on her nightstand. "Five fifteen?" She pushed herself up to her elbows with a slight groan. "We don't have to get up for another forty-five minutes. What are you doing up so early Faye?"

"Oh," she shrugged nonchalantly, "just some light reading before school."

"Homework?" Cassie asked raising a doubtful eyebrow.

"Homework," she said as she stood up. "But not for school." She crossed the room in a few quick strides, all but jumping on the bed in her exuberance.

_Oh my god,_ Cassie thought _how did Faye have so much energy this early in the morning?_

There was a moment's pause as the tingle of magic washed over them and then the light overhead turned on, illuminating the room in a bright light.

"What the fuck Faye!" she said in protest and she squinted her eyes at her in annoyance, both demonstrations of outrage were promptly ignored.

"I was looking for something in your book to explain how you're able to use your powers on your own."

"And did you find anything?" Cassie asked, still squinting and still fairly annoyed. She had woken with a headache and the assault on her eyes wasn't helping.

"Not yet," Faye replied paying no heed whatsoever to the scowl she was giving her. "And I know for a fact there's nothing in Diana's book about that. After we bound the circle and I found out we didn't have individual power anymore, I read the whole damn thing cover to cover …twice…just to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"Is that why you offered to help me with Heather's spell that day? Just so you could look in my book for a way to get your powers back?" she asked distractedly and as she rubbed her temples Faye looked at her with confusion.

"Yes, I thought you already knew that. I hated what the binding ceremony did to us. I didn't want to have to depend on anyone else. I desperately wanted to be able to perform magic on my own…and I still do…which is why when you told me you needed help with the spell, I was confident if I did that favor for you, I could convince you to let me borrow your book. But you were so stingy with it. I barely got five minutes with it before you snatched it away." Faye pouted for a few moments and then sighed heavily. "So I had to resort to other means."

"And by other means," Cassie said with a slight frown, "you're referring to the night you tricked me into taking that compelling potion." Recognizing Faye's unrepentant smirk set firmly in place, she softened her brow and said, "I guess your plan didn't work too well, because, if you remember, you left my house empty handed."

Faye shrugged. "I got what I really came for," she replied and Cassie's lips pursed in thought, wondering if it wasn't her book, then what was it that Faye coveted enough to warrant that kind of deviousness? Her eyes narrowed as she stared at her curiously. Faye stared back as if waiting for her to figure it out. And then remembering the first thing she'd compelled her to do when she was under the influence of the potion, it finally clicked.

"So it was me you wanted all along? Then why didn't you just say so?" she asked and Faye's brow rose.

"Because at that point, I wasn't even sure you liked me that much, let alone in the way I suspected."

"Which was what way?" she asked.

"Wow, tongue twister much?" Faye said. "The gay way of course, I know it's still early, but don't be so dense and actually take some time to put two and two together for once, instead of leaving it to me to spell it out for you."

"And you stop being so bratty," Cassie snapped thinking it was a good thing Faye had said that with a smile. She really wasn't in the mood for her sarcasm today.

"Or what? You're going to kiss me as a punishment?"

Cassie simply stared, determined not to give in to her cuteness…and besides her head was really hurting.

"Or maybe you have something else in mind. I already know where you keep your vibrator," Faye said with a smirk as she shot a glance towards the night stand to the left of the bed where she kept her magic crystal. "I wonder what else you have hidden in there."

"Just stop it," she said in a sharp clear tone that caused a pounding in her head and a noticeable flinch from Faye.

"Fine," she said with a pout. "I was looking forward to some make out time before school, but that's cool if you don't want to."

"You know that's not what I meant. I just don't like when you talk to me like that. It isn't very nice."

"Wow, someone got out of the wrong end of the bitch bed today," she said with a flash of anger in her eyes and Cassie sighed as she threw the covers off and got up out of bed.

"Look Faye, I'm tired, and I don't know why my head is hurting so badly. I'm going to go take some aspirin and then jump in the shower." Grabbing some clothes she headed into the bathroom.

After turning on the water she let it warm up while she searched through the medicine cabinet for some aspirin. She took a couple of Advil and then stepped into the shower letting the warmth cascade over her body and relax her tense muscles.

At the sound of the door opening, she half expecting Faye to join her…if she did, she decided she would try be nicer to her. She didn't know why she was being so grouchy. Maybe it was just the pain that was affecting her that way. It certainly was excruciating.

Cassie was reaching for her shampoo when the door closed and she realized she was alone again. Hoping Faye wasn't mad at her, she hurriedly washed her hair and body.

Five minutes later she stepped out of the shower, dried off and quickly dressed. She opened the door and entered her bedroom, an apology on the tip of her tongue, but Faye was already gone.

**A.N. **Next up…the trip to Henry's lake house**. **


	17. Chapter 17

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 17

Cassie sat in the back of Adam's jeep, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts.

She had planned to get a ride to school from Faye since her truck had mysteriously broken down the day before, right after talking to Jake, but then Faye had just upped and left her house that morning while she was showering without even saying a word and without helping with the clean up duties after the party as she'd promised she would. Luckily Adam stopped by on his way from picking up Diana for school and together the two of them managed to put the kitchen and living room back into some semblance of order. It wasn't perfect but at least when her grandmother returned home from Henry's lake house later that morning she wouldn't suspect that she'd outright lied to her about the 'low key Halloween thing' she'd had the night before.

Or she hoped that would be the case anyway, she would hate for her grandmother to somehow find out she had been planning the get together for two days and had never intended for it to be a girls only kind of slumber party…she was already going to be mad enough at her as it was.

"You seem really quiet. Is something wrong?" Adam asked after catching her eye in the rear view mirror as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"What? Oh no…I'm okay…maybe just a little tired." After a long glance at Adam, Diana slowly turned around, a concerned look on her face.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep. Were you worried about another attack?"

Cassie shook her head, wondering why she hadn't been more afraid of something like that happening. A single dead bolt lock on the front door hadn't really been much of a deterrent for break-ins in the past.

"Thanks," she said as Diana opened her door and then scooted her seat forward so she could get out. She waited until Adam got out of the car before explaining further. "Faye and I didn't get to sleep till after midnight." Diana gave her a look that said plain as day; she knew exactly what kind of activity had kept her up. But she didn't say anything. Which was fine by Cassie, the look was embarrassing enough.

"I hope it wasn't too cold or windy for you back there," Adam said as he lifted the rear hatch and they gathered up their backpacks. He looked up at the puffy white clouds building in the sky as she slung her backpack on her shoulder. "There may be a storm coming."

"No it was fine," she said automatically even though it actually had been a little cold and breezy sitting in the back of Adams jeep. Her guilty conscious driving her to distraction, she immediately dug her cell phone out of her pocket with anxious fingers.

As she walked with Adam and Diana through the parking lot, Cassie checked and found no recent messages from either her grandmother or Faye, but didn't think much about it, however she did think it a little strange how the guilt was weighing down on her soul more for that one lie she'd told her grandmother about the party, than for taking the life of a vengeful witch hunter. But she really admired and respected her grandmother as a person, and keeping the trust she'd given her was very important to her. How could she have let her down like that and in such a big way? Cassie swallowed the lump forming in her throat, and then shoved her phone back into her pocket in frustration.

Why did she let Faye talk her into doing the wrong thing all the time? She should have known not to listen to her, but she had pouted and begged her for her to throw a full-on keg party saying that Halloween was her favorite holiday. She'd resisted at first and then seeing Cassie's determined obstinacy Faye had brought out the big guns, reminding her that she'd suffered through two weeks of grounding for her after the whole cool whip incident…which, now that she thought about it, hadn't really been much of a punishment at all considering that she'd snuck out on more than one occasion to meet up with everyone at both the Boathouse and the abandoned house, and that they'd texted each other practically non stop day and night since her mother had neglected to take her cell phone away.

Cassie frowned. And sure she wasn't texting or calling her now. Why should she expect Faye to return her urgent phone calls and text messages she'd sent her? She wouldn't care that she was desperate for answers. Desperate and worried because she knew her grandmother was going to be angry and disappointed with her. Because not only was she going to loose her trust for lying to her, but to make matters worse, Cassie had been too naïve and not to mention, pretty damn stupid to leave the magic crystal her grandmother had entrusted her with, in such an easy and accessible place and then throw a party letting thirty or so drunken teenagers, half of whom she didn't even know, roam freely around her house.

Yeah her crystal had gone missing and when her grandmother found out she was going to ground her until eternity! And what was frustrating was that she couldn't even ask anyone about it because no one was supposed to know that she had it. There was a slight possibility that she could have misplaced it, or that someone could have been snooping through her drawers and just on the off chance found it. But who would have had the nerve to steal it? Sure they might have coveted the crystal for its unique qualities alone, but only someone with magic could actually open up its powers and use it. And the only ones she was aware of that even knew what it could be used for were Diana, Adam and Faye. Melissa had been too out of it when her grandmother had called upon its power to shut down that demon. And Diana or Adam didn't really have much of an opportunity before or during the party to go searching through her room. Besides Luke possibly taking time out to search her room, during the whole snatch and grab abduction when she was unconscious there was only one other person who had both the time and inclination to do something like that.

Cassie's frown deepened as she passed by the shiny black Volvo parked in the best spot possible for a student. Though spaces weren't reserved and were normally on a first come basis everyone knew not to park there, or it would piss off the obnoxiously rude spoiled little girl who just happened to be the principal's daughter and…though she didn't want to believe it, after taking all of the circumstances into consideration…a fucking clepto!

The more Cassie thought about it the angrier she got. Faye Chamberlain had stolen her heart and her virginity and now possibly even her magic crystal!

"Wow, I'd say a penny for your thoughts but from the storm brewing in your eyes, I'd say it was more like a quarters worth."

Stepping up onto the sidewalk from the parking lot, Cassie looked at Diana as they walked together, taking a long moment's pause to collect herself. She could tell she wanted to ask her what had happened between her and Faye, but with Adam right there she was trying to be discreet. Despite her anxious and sour mood Cassie grinned before replying, "A lot more than a quarter, believe me. I'm really mad at Faye."

Hoping she hadn't said too much already, Cassie shot a nervous glance at Adam and Diana gave her a look of understanding as if to say that she knew bringing such a delicate subject into a conversation with a friend would be very difficult. She'd really had no choice but to come out to Diana since she'd pretty much caught Faye and her in bed together the night before, and after the first initial shock had worn off, she'd actually been pretty accepting of it. How Adam would handle the news and what would be the best way to go about telling him, was going to be a tough one to figure out.

"So did you and Faye have a fight or something, is that why she blew off giving you a ride?" Adam asked and after sharing a look of surprise with her, Diana quickly averted her eyes, but then glanced at her again with obvious curiosity. "I mean I know things were kind of tense between you two at first, but lately it seemed like you were getting along."

Meeting Adam's eyes Cassie tried to shrug off her nervousness. "Well you know Faye, say the slightest thing wrong and its all drama and fire." It wasn't that she didn't like Faye's hotheaded and stormily rebellious nature, but she had made quite a few attempts to get her to tone it down. Not that it had made a bit of difference, she thought with a twitch of her lips as she walked up the stairs leading into the school. And then her mouth tightened into a grim smile, mentally collecting herself for her confrontation. She was already mad at her for leaving her stranded like that without good reason, if it turned out her girlfriend was the one with sticky fingers, she might just find herself on the receiving end of a serious ass kicking!

"Yeah," Adam said in agreement. "Faye is a handful alright."

"By the way Adam," she said when she saw him looking at her with concern. "Thanks for the ride to school, and for all your help cleaning and taking down the Halloween decorations at my grandmother's house."

"Sure, no problem," he answered. A hesitant smile played across his face as he headed into school. Once he stepped inside, he held the door open for her as well as Diana. "I'm glad your head is feeling better. I think Diana's right though. You should try to take things easy after what happened last night."

"Uh…yeah," she said, in agreement with Diana that the migraine like headache she'd woken up with was a side effect from using her powers within the circle of iron sulfate. "The triple dose of Advil I took is finally kicking in full force." She smiled a little wryly to herself as the three of them made their way down the narrow hallways. "As long as we don't have any more…unexpected visitors, I'll try to refrain from over tasking myself today."

"Great," he said with a slight nod before turning his attention to Diana. "See you in physics class?"

Diana shrugged. "I guess so," she said in a nonchalant manner as she continued to walk with Cassie to their lockers.

As soon as she rounded the corner of the adjacent hallway, Cassie caught sight of Faye and Melissa standing at their lockers. She smiled at Melissa when they made eye contact, and then briefly aimed a frown at Faye when she glanced her way. She passed right by her without saying anything not caring in the least if that might hurt her feelings or tick her off.

"So…did you two…um, break up?" Diana asked her a bit hesitantly as they walked together down the hallway.

Cassie glanced over at her sharply. "No…of course not," she replied before veering off to head to her locker. She frowned in confusion as she reached for her lock, Diana's question throwing her somewhat off balance.

"Don't worry," she said quietly, "I haven't told Adam anything…and I won't…unless you want me to." There was a long pause as Cassie struggled to remember her locker combination. "So…uh, do you want me to? I mean it might be better that way…"

"I don't think so," she replied distractedly. She yanked on her lock and tried the combination again, but still it wouldn't open. "Dammit…what the fuck is wrong with this thing!" Out of frustration, she kept on yanking, not caring about all the commotion she was making.

"Try it again," Faye said, suddenly standing beside her. Cassie jumped a little before turning her head to meet her eyes with pursed lips and an icy glare, although underneath it all there was a hint of fear at the cold reticence in her girlfriend's eyes.

"I better go rescue Melissa," Diana said, seeing the tense look on the both of their faces, and then she crossed the hallway to save Melissa from the group of overzealous cheerleaders, who were accosting her with their belated and overly-cheery condolences.

There was an awkward ten seconds or so of uninterrupted eye contact. Cassie was the first to look away. "You left without saying goodbye," she said, trying to sound casual as she stared with feigned interest at her lock. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest…although she wasn't quite sure if it was because of her locker troubles or worries over her relationship. She hadn't thought about breaking up with Faye until Diana had brought up the possibility. She might be pissed at Faye for being inconsiderate, but the last thing she wanted to do was break up with her. However if it turned out she was the one who had stolen her crystal...

She swallowed nervously as Faye suddenly sidled up behind her. Leaning against her, their bodies impossibly close, she raised her arm up and then cupped her hand over hers on the lock.

"You were being a bitch," she said irritably at the same time she tugged on the lock. Cassie wasn't surprised in the least when it clicked open easily, nor was she particularly alarmed or concerned when Faye kept her hand in place longer than was necessary.

She could feel the heat from her body and her breath near her ear. Knowing they were in a public place, she wanted to move away, to distance herself from the enticing tingle of magic and sexual feelings Faye's close proximity was stirring up within her. In order to do so, she closed her eyes, taking a few pulsating moments of intense consciousness to steel her emotions against the allure. Her eyes flew open when she felt Faye drop her arm and straighten, but the throbbing in her groin continued long after she pulled away from her.

"So were you," she said quietly and waiting for the sex flush on her cheeks to go away before she turned around, she took off the lock and opened her locker to retrieve her book for first period. And then, math book in hand, and a half-scolding look on her face, she took a breath and turned around to ask Faye the question that had been on her mind for the last two hours, but she was already walking away. Cassie couldn't believe it!

A frown creased her forehead as she swiveled back around to close her locker. Unaware that there were already several pairs of eyes watching her curiously, they widened in surprise when she slammed it a bit harder than was necessary. That was the second time that day Faye had blown her off, and it was really pissing her off! Clutching her book to her chest she turned around to watch her retreating form. Faye's smug blasé attitude as she flipped her hair only serving to reinforce her anger.

"That's it, go ahead and walk away from me, just like you did this morning!" she called out rather loudly, without thinking about the repercussions.

Using the slight disturbance in the surrounding atmosphere their brief encounter had caused to escape from the cheerleaders, Melissa rushed to catch up with Faye, but not before glancing at Cassie with a confused expression, not that she was too concerned with what Melissa might be thinking. Her eyes narrowed, when after shooting her an annoyed glance, Faye kept on walking.

"From the look she just gave you, I'm guessing you guys haven't told Melissa yet?" Diana asked after crossing the hall, to take her arm.

Cassie let out her breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she allowed Diana to casually steer her away from the prying eyes and whispered gossip that she could sense was already starting from the one single encounter.

"Oh man…did you see that?"

"Faye Chamberlain and that new girl?"

"Yeah, I sure did…man that was hot…I think I just got a boner."

Passing a group of jocks, one guy caught her eye and fake coughed the word 'gay' into his hand.

"Sometimes, I hate small town mentality," Cassie mumbled to herself with a sigh as she made her way towards her first period class with Diana.

**A.N.** Okay I know I delayed the trip to Henry's lake house by a chapter. I wrote this specifically for Catlover10808 in appreciation for all the kind reviews.

Oh and BTW, read the rumors that Faye and Cassie might be half sisters on the show. But rest assured, if the PTB make that happen, it will _not_ be cannon in this story. I'm sure that was a duh kind of thing for everyone, but just thought I'd mention it anyway.


	18. Chapter 18

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 18

Faye started yelling the second she stormed into the girl's bathroom. "What the hell is wrong with that girl! She's so hot and cold with me, I swear she has a multiple personality disorder!"

Following close behind her, for a moment Melissa looked with indifference at the two, most likely freshman girls standing off to the side, who previously had their heads bowed together over their iphones. Realizing who had just come violently bursting through the door their nonsensical conversation about dream jobs and level nine employees came to a swift end.

Everyone at Chance Harbor High knew Faye Chamberlain, but most by reputation only as the 'resident bad girl', and after the bombshell Cassie had just tossed into her usual harassment-free domain she was out to prove her namesake correct. Whipping around, she glanced at one of the girl's iphone screens and smirked.

"I think…the two of you…need to go fiddle with your skyscraper somewhere else," she told them, in a somewhat quieter, but still totally compelling voice, and frozen in place, their simulation game forgotten, they finally regained control of their senses enough to grab their backpacks and head towards the exit at a rapid pace.

After making sure all of the stalls were vacant Faye looked around at the now emptier room, and gave herself somewhat of a satisfied grin until her gaze fell upon Melissa. Normally the ease with which she could intimidate innocent bystanders into running from the scene like the hounds of hell were upon them whenever she was on one of her angst filled rampages made Melissa smile, but not today. Her life was in turmoil and the future seemed bleak. Two weeks had gone by since Nick's death and yet still she was like an empty shell of her former self. On the outside she tried to make it look like everything was normal, but inside there was such a hole in her heart that Faye wasn't sure if her friend would ever truly smile again.

"So I suppose you want to know what the deal is between Cassie and I," she said putting her hands on her hips and looking Melissa straight in the eye. "Shall we play twenty questions or should I just cut to the chase as to why I'm back to wanting to give her something a lot less subtle than a nudge with a fire spell?"

"What did she mean before? Were you over at her house earlier this morning?" Melissa asked actually showing a spark of interest, but Faye imagined in her depressed state of mind, what she was about to tell her wouldn't make much of an impact on her. Thinking maybe there was something to be said for shock therapy she took a breath before answering.

"After we left the shipyard last night, I spent the night with Cassie at her house…only we didn't get much sleep…we were too busy cumming." There was the usual few moments of understandable stunned silence following her blunt response, however Melissa's response to her response was equally as stunning.

"And you're mad at _Cassie_ for not being tactful? Oh my fod Gaye…I mean…"

"Gah!" Faye huffed indignantly, as she watched Melissa bite her lip as if she were trying to keep from grinning. "Screw you," she said promptly with a little bit of a pout on her face. That hadn't been the response she'd expected from her at all.

"I'm sorry Faye. I didn't mean to say that," she pleaded with her. "It just kind of slipped out." With a small shrug and a weary sigh, she turned away to busily wash her hands in the sink.

Faye crossed her arms and studied Melissa's profile for several seconds, it suddenly dawning on her that she had reacted more to the way she'd blatantly come out to her rather than to the pronouncement itself. She seemed so calm, as if it didn't surprise her at all. She frowned...although she was of the opinion that finding out your best friend was gay might just seem a bit insignificant compared to demons, dead boyfriends and attempted ritualistic murder she had expected more of a verbal acknowledgment out of Melissa than she'd gotten.

"So I take it the fact that I'm…open minded about who I like doesn't surprise you then?" she asked as Melissa pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser to dry her hands.

"Oh please," she replied with much more sarcasm than Faye had anticipated. "I know how you get when you want something. And I'm not blind, I've seen the fuck-lust look you give Cassie." She crumpled up the paper towels and tossed them into the garbage can, before turning to meet her eyes. "And don't get me wrong, I understand that you don't want to put a label on your relationship…or whatever it is you have going with Cassie…but you have to know that other people won't be so accepting and nice."

"I do know that," Faye said, blinking away the surprise that Melissa had found the wherewithal to voice her true thoughts on the matter. "Which is why I wasn't really planning on coming out to the whole school." She shifted uncomfortably as the bell rang, signaling first period was starting in four minutes. "But it's too late for careful strategies or second chances. It's already done." She glanced towards the door and…hearing the halls abuzz with the sound of lockers slamming, students laughing and calling out to each other…scowled, thinking, _After that little temper tantrum of Cassie's the rumors are probably already spreading, which means by lunch time the whole schools gonna know that the principal's daughter's fucking the new girl._

"Well at least you have someone in your life," Melissa said with a sniffle. "Someone you can open up to and share your feelings with."

_Oh I'll share my feelings with her alright...That is if I don't kill her first, _Faye thought with a heavy sigh of irritation before turning her full attention back to Melissa. "Don't cry," she said not really up to the best friend duties of consoling, she was never really good at it. "I know you'll find someone new. I'm sure of it." Reaching over the sink, she took a paper towel from the dispenser and handed it to Melissa to wipe her tears away.

"No one can replace Nick," she said dabbing at her eyes. "He was special."

Knowing that Melissa had loved him but still thinking Nick was never worthy of her, Faye held her tongue as she dug inside her purse. "Here," she said offering Melissa her favorite black eyeliner. "Class is almost starting. You need to fix your makeup."

"Why bother?" Melissa said taking the eyeliner pencil from her and then staring at it with tear dampened eyes. "I'll probably just start crying again."

Faye sighed. "Then you wipe…dry…and reapply," she told her succinctly as she reached into her purse again to search for her best red lip gloss. "You know more than I do why you can't let them see your pain. They'll swarm on you like vultures on a carcass."

Melissa slumped her shoulders and, her eyes cast downward, dropped the eyeliner back into Faye's purse while she was bent over the sink applying a fresh coat of lip gloss.

"Do you _want_ them to think you're weak?" she asked hoping she would change her mind or at least her mood, which was really getting to be a downer.

"I don't care," she said and Faye followed her with her eyes in the mirror…at least until Melissa headed into one of the stalls behind her and closed and locked the door.

Giving a mental shrug that she'd tried to bolster her friends spirits the best that she could, she turned her attention back to applying another coat of lip gloss to her mouth and as she was doing so, she heard the bathroom door open. She didn't even have to look to know who it was that stepped into the room and stopped just inside the doorway as if she were hovering in indecision. With a practiced air of nonchalance she continued to apply her lip gloss, pretending not to care that Cassie had, only minutes earlier, outed their relationship to everyone within hearing distance. There wasn't enough time left before class started to weave a magic spell let alone to give her the kind of accolades that she so richly deserved. The ones she typically reserved for those who pissed her off.

Faye finally turned her head to look, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cassie reaching for the door handle. "That's right little girl, get the hell out of here, before I do something with magic to make you."

Her words and angry tone catching Cassie's attention, she turned back around. "Oh so now you're mad at me? You're the one who's too chicken shit to stick around and deal with whatever comes up in an honest way."

"What?"

"You heard me. You fucking left without even saying goodbye. So don't act like you're the one who should be pissed off. I'm not the one ignoring phone calls."

"I wasn't ignoring your calls. I turned my phone off when I got to school," she said with an unconvincing smile. "Rules are rules."

"So I'm supposed to believe you got to school an hour before it starts? And that you actually pay attention to rules?" Cassie asked, her eyes narrowing, and Faye shrugged a whatever.

"Well here I am standing right here in front of you," she pointed out with a note of impatience in her voice. "So what've you been stressing out about?"

Cassie's lips pursed in thought and she took a deep breath before saying, "My grandmother's crystal is missing."

Faye raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at the closed stall door. "How do you know she didn't take it with her to my grandfather's house?" she asked irritated.

"Did you take it?" Cassie asked, sounding equally irritated.

"No why would I?" Cassie gave her a look that said she didn't believe her. She sighed, her exasperation rising. "I'm telling you I didn't take anything. Why don't you believe me?"

"Maybe because you're a spoiled little girl who usually goes after what she wants when she wants it. You're words not mine," Cassie added when an expression of disbelief etched across her face. "I'm sorry if the truth hurts."

Faye raised her brow. "You think you hurt me?" Her eyes flashed angrily. "You don't even know me."

She grabbed her backpack off the edge of the sink and headed for the door, but Cassie stepped in her way. They stood about a foot apart, staring at each other, icy blue eyes meeting her angry hazel-green ones, she could tell Cassie was trying to intimidate her maybe with the threat of magic from the sound of the walls vibrating, but it wasn't working.

"Get out of my way," she said coldly.

"No," Cassie replied as the rattling sound began to get louder, "not until you give me back the crystal."

Furious now, Faye shoved her as she made a move to pass her. Cassie grabbed her wrist, but she twisted it from her grasp and stalked off.

"If you leave…then we're over!" Cassie said, her threat echoing off the tiled walls ominously.

Faye's tone was soft but her expression was full of emotion, uncertain and angry at the way Cassie was treating her she said, "If that's the way you want to play it," as she headed for the door, but she could feel her heart sinking with each painful step she took distancing herself from Cassie. She had just opened up the door and was ready to step out into the hallway when she heard what sounded like an explosion. When she turned around, the tiles were blown off of the wall and the pipes were squirting water all over the bathroom.

**A.N.** There's plenty of time until the second half of the season so I thought another chapter was needed to set things up for the Lake House, which will be the next chapter I promise. That is unless you don't want me to continue...


	19. Chapter 19

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 19

Cassie arrived home at a little after four that afternoon, after a day worrying about her grandmother and distraught over breaking up with her girlfriend, she couldn't for the life of her figure out what had gone wrong with her and Faye. It was almost unbelievable to her that just that morning they had been wrapped in each others arms. She'd woken up in a bad mood, tired and hurting from a long night with little sleep, and then with Faye disappearing without saying a word or giving her any explanation as to why she might be angry, and then discovering that her crystal was missing? Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding...circumstantial evidence combined with bad timing. If that was the case it should never have led to this. It certainly wasn't what she wanted, and from the crushed look on Faye's face it wasn't what she had wanted either.

Cassie sighed as she got out of her car and gathered her belongings; unsure if she had done the right thing in issuing the ultimatum. It was harsh but she had to do it. Faye had left her no choice, she told herself. But still she found herself fluctuating between knowing Faye wasn't being truthful about taking her crystal to wanting to believe that she would never do that.

What if she was dead wrong in assuming she was the one who had stolen it, she wondered as she locked her car with the remote on her key chain and headed up the walkway? What if her own feelings had caused all this...her anger and frustration with her life in general since she found out she was a full-blooded witch. Had she just been blowing off steam and unintentionally allowed things to get out of hand earlier that morning? Or had she been too obsessed with trying to prove a point at the expense of her relationship? She needed to get what belonged to her, but Faye wasn't admitting to anything nor was she willing to discuss what was on her mind even though she had tried to force her hand. If it wasn't Faye, then who could have taken her crystal, she wondered as she reached to unlock the front door?

"Hey Cassie."

Spinning around in surprise at the sound of his voice, Cassie found herself staring at Jake as he made his way up the walkway like she did every time he came around. He was tall and really good looking, the kind of bad boy that good girls often go for in a big way, but still there was something about him that made her uneasy. From the second she'd first laid eyes on him outside of her house she'd been struck by a vague sense that something bad was going to happen, it was the same ominous feeling she'd woken up with that very morning and before she left the house on the night her mother had died, and both times it turned out the feeling had been right.

"New car?" Jake asked as he climbed up the steps.

Her throat tightening at the reminder of everything she'd lost recently, she mentally shook herself. It hurt too much to think about that time in her life as well as her regrets over breaking up with Faye, so she didn't, she needed to focus on priorities...such as finding her grandmother.

"Old car, finally back from the body shop," she replied as she glanced toward the street and not wanting to make anymore unconscious assumptions based on circumstantial evidence that day, she put her suspicions about his true motives aside as well.

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good. Have you been in an accident recently?"

His look of concern seemed genuine enough, Cassie thought while she explained the events that led to her Explorer being taken to the Chance Harbor Auto Repair and Body Shop, of course leaving off one minor detail...where Faye intentionally used her powers to set fire to the engine, trapping her inside just to nudge the magic out of her.

"That's too bad the mechanic wasn't able to determine the exact cause of the fire," Jake said. He leaned forward to take her backpack from her when she was struggling to hold it on her forearm while attempting to unlock the front door. He swung it onto his shoulder and smiled at her and she flashed an empty smile back at him before inserting the key in the lock. "I hope it doesn't happen again."

"Uh...yeah," she said in a half detached tone, "me too." She unlocked the door and stepped across the threshold into the foyer, and once they were both inside, she filled Jake in on her immediate plans as he followed her into the kitchen. "I'm glad you stopped by. After last night, everyone's meeting here this afternoon to discuss what we should do. Adam seems to think it might be a good idea if we stick together as much as possible in case there's another attack."

"And do you always agree with what Adam says?"

Cassie looked at Jake and noticed that he was studying her with a strange kind of interest, there was something about it that she couldn't quite put her finger on, all she knew was that it was different than before. "Not always," she said slowly. "But I'm willing to listen to whoever makes the best sense...for the safety of all of us."

"You want to protect your Circle," he said as he set her backpack down on the kitchen table and briefly glanced around. "With a ruthless group of witch-hunters after us, that's understandable." Their eyes met again and he nodded as if to say that he approved of the change within her...not that she needed his approval, but it was a nice gesture.

"Would you like something to drink while we wait for everyone to get here?" she asked and without waiting for his answer she walked over to the refrigerator, pulled out a couple of sodas, smiled politely when he took one from her.

"Thanks." He popped the top and brought it to his lips, eying her over the rim of the can while he took a drink.

She'd only known Jake for such a short period of time, and yet they'd been through so much together that she felt like she should at least give him the chance to explain away her doubts about him. There were too many questions to grill him with all at once, but the biggest one that came to mind concerned the use of her magic. "Have you ever done magic on your own?" she asked and when he made a slight gesture with his head indicating that he had, she told him a new aspect of her powers that had come into play the night before. "I think I did something on my own last night."

"Really? Did you use a crystal?"

His question surprised her, although she tried not to let it show. "You know about crystals?" she asked, watching him steadily.

"Sure," he replied. "Crystals are similar to herbs...witches have used them for generations to perform magic such as healing, love, protection..." He grinned. "And of course for telling the future."

"You said you're able to do magic on your own. So does that mean you have one?" she asked hoping she wasn't making her suspicion apparent.

"A crystal ball?" he said with a playful smile.

Cassie shrugged. "Any kind of crystal."

He shook his head. "No, I don't have one in my possession...But I have used them on occasion." She raised a brow for him to continue and after a few seconds pause he did. "There was this girl once...she was hot as fire, a bit of a rebel and aggressive as hell...and I really liked her, but she wouldn't have anything to do with me..." He looked like he wanted to say more, but he stopped himself. He tried to look disappointed and sad, but then he suddenly grinned.

"Wow," Cassie said. "I almost fell for that one."

"So did she," he said still grinning. "And pretty hard too. But then she got too clingy and I had to break up with her."

"Oh..." Cassie said, her brow knit in confusion. "You know if you're actually being serious that kind of makes you sound like an asshole."

He took a sip of his soda before replying, "I was. Which is why I needed the crystal in the first place."

Cassie's lips pursed in thought, she was having difficulty determining if his story was true or not and she had a feeling that had been his intention all along. "So I'm supposed to believe a guy that looks like you can't get any girl he wants?"

"Hey," he replied. "It's not that uncommon as you might think." Gazing at his charming smile, Cassie could see why Faye had fallen for him. He might not be boyfriend material but he was definitely bang worthy. He caught her staring and she looked away.

She took a sip of her soda, her thoughts drifting to her grandmother and how if she were to walk in the front door and see her there, alone in the house with Jake she would be more than a tad bit angry. She remembered the last time when the crazy witch hunter had attacked her, she'd slashed her so violently that even though it only grazed her arm a little it still fucking hurt like a bitch. Jake heard her screaming, burst into the house and stopped her before she could do any worse, and then she and Jake had performed a spell together that had her running from the house in search of some Visine. Once she was gone he tended to her wound with careful practiced fingers, all the while telling her he had no intention of replacing Nick in their circle. When her grandmother came home, she thanked Jake for saving her and then very politely told him to leave. Once he was gone, she made Cassie explain exactly what had happened.

After satisfying all of her grandmother's curiosities about the attack and after her grandmother had shared her ideas on what that psycho might have been after with her, she'd spent the next several minutes trying to explain that no Jake did not try to take advantage of her in any way shape or form while she was alone with him in the house. Cassie smiled, she loved that her grandmother cared enough about her to want to keep her safe, but with a band of witch hunters in town trying to kill her, worrying whether her hymen was still intact or not seemed kind of absurd to her.

"Is your grandmother at work?" Jake asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh...uh no," she said, blushing a little at where her thoughts had strayed, she wrinkled her brow in concern as she looked up at him. "That's another thing I want to discuss with everyone when they get here. She left yesterday to check up on Faye's grandfather, he's a friend of hers that lives a few hours away and she was worried about him. I haven't heard from her since she left and I've been texting and calling her every chance I could today...You know with school and then afterwards having to pick up my car from the shop." He smiled and nodded, watching her curiously again. "She said she would be back this morning, but she hasn't made it home yet, and I'm really starting to get anxious."

Jake was about to say something when just then they heard someone knocking on the front door.

Cassie excused herself to go answer it, wondering if Diana had called Faye like she'd asked her to, to tell her about the meeting. The last words she'd spoken to Faye had been angry ones, and she hadn't wanted to try to call her herself since she had ignored her attempts to get a hold of her earlier that morning. Maybe that was being childish but at the moment she couldn't seem to care.

She took a few seconds to compose herself before she opened the door and when she did and saw the look on Faye's face she almost wished she hadn't. She was eying her sharply, head to one side as if she were contemplating something deeply. That combined with her trademark smirk should have been warning enough that things weren't going to go smoothly.

"You know," she drawled in a bitchy tone. "Adam should have done you a favor and let that ugly green SUV of yours burn." She threw a quick glance over her shoulder towards the street. "But at least it beats that piece of junk you were driving for the last three weeks."

Struggling to keep her temper, Cassie held her tongue as Faye pushed past her. She closed the door fairly softly considering her mood and with an annoyed roll of her eyes followed her, but Faye didn't even glance behind her as she headed down the hallway and strolled into the kitchen as if she owned the place. She stopped abruptly at the sight of Jake casually leaning up against the cabinets drinking his can of soda.

"Hey," he said. He smiled pleasantly enough but Faye's sneer was still in place so he raised an eyebrow, visibly amused.

"What the hell is _he_ doing here?" she asked as she glared at him, crossing her arms in an irritated huff, and already tired of her rudeness, Cassie fought off her first reaction, which was to zap her with a little bit of her magic.

"I invited him," she told her. "He's part of our Circle too."

Faye turned to look at her, her hazel-green eyes laden with confusion she said, "But what about our discussion last night?" Recalling their conversation they'd had about not trusting Jake, Cassie didn't think it was a good idea for Faye to elaborate at the moment. Of course she did anyway. "I thought you were going to tell him to fuck off."

"I never said that," Cassie replied with a quick glance at Jake and then she said in a warning tone, "Be nice Faye." But obviously from her next remark, Faye wasn't in the mood to listen.

"So is this what this morning was all about?" she said, holding her gaze steadily. "You want to fuck Jake now? Because just to warn you? He's a real dick. But maybe that's what you're into now that we..."

"Faye!" Cassie said more loudly this time, cutting her off. "Excuse us for a few minutes," she told Jake as she gently but firmly took Faye's arm and drew her away. "Why don't we go discuss this in a more private location."

She ushered Faye out of the kitchen, down the hallway and up the stairs. She couldn't believe how rude she was acting. Actually she could believe it, because she knew her tendencies, but she didn't like it.

"Is this going to be break up sex, or make up sex?" Faye asked snarkily once they made it upstairs and she determined their destination was Cassie's bedroom.

"Shut up Faye," Cassie said as soon as she closed her bedroom door behind her. She could only hope Jake hadn't overheard her remark and drawn any conclusions. Faye backed up as she advanced upon her, and then turned and flounced away from her to the bed, bouncing and making the springs squeak.

"Breakup or makeup," she said with a shrug, "any kind of sex is good sex and the times we've shared in this bed have always been very pleasurable."

Cassie's brow rose. "Oh believe me Faye, this is not going to be pleasurable at all," she replied as she stood in front of her. She crossed her arms, she wanted to shake her, and it was taking all of her willpower to keep from doing so.

"So no sex then? Oh come on Cassie. It'll be a total rush." She scooted over to the center of the bed as if to make room for her. "And not to mention...the perfect ending, to a perfect day."

Her sarcasm wasn't lost on her, nor was the pained look that briefly flashed across her face when she moved away from her and sat down near the bedpost at the foot of the bed. And then in the next second, the bitchy smirk was back in place. Breathing in deeply to calm her nerves, Cassie leaned her back against the bedpost. As with her strong desire for power, Faye had a tendency to let her emotions consume her, she needed a strong person to balance her...but now that they were no longer together it was time to start loosening the reins.

"This isn't about you right now Faye, or what happened this morning. That's not why I invited you over here," she said her voice low, but full of purpose. "My grandmother should have been home hours ago, she's not answering her cell and I'm really worried. I'm not in the mood for your attitude."

"Then what are you in the mood for?" she asked with a suggestive grin and then she lifted her legs and swung them across her lap.

Annoyed, that she wasn't listening to her Cassie pushed them off. "I'm not your girlfriend anymore Faye." The moment the words were out of her mouth she wanted to take them back, even though deep inside she knew it needed to be said. The silence in the room was palpable for several long seconds.

"Fine," Faye suddenly said as she slowly scooted back up against the pillows. "I get it."

Cassie was quiet for a few moments. "Do you really?" she asked tentatively. "Do you also get that it was your decision? That crystal belongs to my family Faye. Why did you take it? Tell me the truth."

Faye crossed her arms, matching her pose as they faced each other across the length of the bed. "You don't want to know the truth Cassie. Because you won't believe it anyway."

"Then at least tell me why you left this morning," she said and Faye looked away as if she didn't want to look at her, or she was trying not to cry, either way it tore at Cassie's heart that she couldn't say the fuck with it all and just wrap her arms around her. She knew she was hurting her, but she needed to know why Faye had hurt her.

"I left because I realized you don't want the same thing that I do. And the fact that you're willing to throw away what we have together over one issue proves it."

"Are you talking about the crystal?" Cassie asked sitting up and staring questioningly at her and Faye shot an annoyed glance her way.

"This conversation's a bore," she said with a roll of her eyes and then she reached a booted toe out and began massaging her thigh through her jeans. "Whatd'ya say we continue this thing we have together casually. Are you cool with that?"

Cassie sighed heavily.

"You know good fuck buddies are really hard to find...," Faye said continuing her massage and Cassie got up off the bed irritated beyond belief.

"Faye, you better stop before I..." she said frowning at her in exasperation and then she stopped herself when she saw the sudden disheartened expression Faye gave her. She could almost see her distress escalating.

"More ultimatums? I can't stand anymore ultimatums Cassie." Although her voice didn't waver Cassie could detect a slight quiver in it which betrayed her outward calmness. She looked at her, then she looked away.

"Faye I don't understand any of this," she said throwing her arms up and letting them slap the sides of her leg when they fell. "Please...just talk to me." Faye just stared at her as if bewildered by her emotions.

"I don't...want this to end," she finally said quietly, and then she slowly got up off the bed and smiled a little shakily at her. "But I guess that doesn't matter now."

"Faye...wait..." Cassie said wanting to stop her, but not really sure what there was left to say. She watched in confusion as Faye turned and headed for the door and then she jumped when she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket telling her she'd gotten a text. She stopped to take it out hoping it was a message from her grandmother but it was Adam.

When she looked up to tell Faye that Diana and Adam where on their way she was already gone. She sighed wishing she could start the day all over again but knew she really couldn't and besides with the luck she'd been having lately things could only get worse.

**A.N.** The next chapter picks up at the lake house. Hope you liked this one. It was extra long as someone requested. Thanks for all of the kind reviews and keep them coming so I feel motivated to keep Cassie and Faye coming...lol


	20. Chapter 20

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 20

_Later that evening..._

She hadn't planned on coming to Pine Lake, there really hadn't been any good reason to. There were exams starting soon that her mother was pressuring her to study for and a really good sale going on at the mall that was just too good to pass up, but yet here she was. She'd suffered through an excruciatingly boring three hour car ride to her grandfather's lake house with Adam and Diana in a cold and drafty jeep only to find out that Cassie's grandmother had texted her with a message that she was staying with a friend and would be heading back home in the morning. Even then, the trip would have all been worthwhile if she could at least see her grandpa. But he wasn't even here. And now to top it all off, some weird supernatural thing seemed to be going on around her.

Faye scanned the top of the stairs again, wondering where the pair of little red boots had gone.

What the hell was going on? Was her mind playing tricks on her? Or was magic involved? With five witches in the house and emotions running high within the Circle, who knows? Maybe one...or all of them...was finally fed up with her bratty woe is me attitude and had decided to mess with her.

A flash of lightning struck nearby and a heavy rain continued to pelt the windows. Shaking off a full body shiver, Faye headed back down the stairs. She was sopping wet from the storm, cold and pissed off with the world in general and extremely upset about her recent breakup with Cassie, was it any wonder she was hearing voices calling for help and seeing memories from her past that weren't there, she asked herself?

She stopped in front of her grandfather's liquor cabinet and, determined to make the best of a crappy situation, opened a bottle of bourbon and took a swallow. She gasped as it went down her throat but though she normally didn't drink alcohol she didn't mind. After the day she'd had she needed something stronger than potions to calm her nerves and make her pain go away. She took another sip and then a few more to try to quiet the chill within her.

"You know I think Jake has a thing for you."

"Really?" Cassie asked Diana and hearing them talking, Faye took an even larger gulp of her grandfather's best whiskey after detecting a note of interest in Cassie's voice at Diana's insightful bullshit. Her girlfriend had just dumped her and already she was thinking about moving on? Faye was hurting so bad at the moment that she barely even registered the lights coming on in the house. Her eyes still watering from the burn of hard liquor and a good relationship gone bad, she tucked a bottle of rum and scotch under each arm and headed into the parlor to join them.

"Give it up Diana. Cassie's not into Jake. She doesn't like boys."

"Really?" Diana asked curiously. "So...you're strictly a lesbian?"

"I don't know, I haven't really decided yet," Cassie said and at the insensitive remark Faye felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her.

"I need a drink." She walked around to the side of the couch. "Or…several," she added as she looked at Cassie lying on the couch. At the intimate way she was snuggled under a thick red blanket with Diana, her legs laying comfortably across her lap, Faye's eyes flashed with an envious yearning. She smiled as best as she could when she handed Diana two of the bottles, trying to suppress her emotions.

"Thanks," Cassie said after Diana handed her one of the bottles and, not for the first time, Faye seethed inwardly at how they were acting all chummy and sisterly with each other. Their friendship was always getting in between her and Cassie. Fucking Diana, first she cock blocks her, then she car blocks her and now she was couch blocking her! Whatever…she'd find somewhere else to get her drink on.

"I'm gonna text my mom before I get a buzz so she knows we're staying the night." Faye glanced at Cassie hopefully. She'd shot her offer down once that day, but on the off chance she might decide to change her mind about the break up sex, she raised her brow suggestively. "Then I'm going to go take a hot bath. I got soaked and I'm freezing." Cassie glanced at her briefly but then looked away when the front door opened, oblivious to her desperation.

"What no applause? We made light," Adam said back from turning on the generator.

"Ah nice work guys," Cassie said. "Now we just need a fire to keep this place warm."

Clutching a half full bottle of whiskey in her hand, Faye headed toward the downstairs bathroom. Thinking it might just make Cassie jealous she said, "I'll be in the tub if you need me," as she brushed by Jake, rubbing her body up against his and leaving him staring after her with a big dopey grin on his face. Getting her flirt on with Jake would have been worth every bit of the damage to her self esteem if she could have gotten a reaction out of Cassie, but although she watched her closely there was no reaction at all. With the thought that the chance of hooking back up with her was hopeless her mood plummeted even further as she headed down the hallway.

Faye could feel her bottom lip trembling as she closed the bathroom door behind her. Determined not to cry she pressed her lips together firmly. She promised herself long ago that she wouldn't cry, crying was useless. Setting down the bottle of liquor she reached into her pocket for her cell phone. She sent a quick text to her mom while she was still mentally cohesive enough not to fat finger the touch screen keypad then turned her phone off and carelessly tossed it on top of the vanity.

She ran the bath water and got undressed while she waited for the large soaking tub to fill. As she pulled off her shirt and unclasped her bra, her mind returned to how harshly Cassie had scolded her back at her grandmother's house up in her bedroom. She knew she should have been honest with her feelings and told Cassie that she loved her. But after her accusation that she'd stolen her magic crystal she'd decided that it wasn't the right time to reveal her heart. It was painful for her to think that Cassie didn't trust her, although she really couldn't blame her. She'd never made any attempt to hide her addiction to magic. Cassie knew how obsessed she was with finding power on her own.

She shivered again after she slipped off the rest of her clothes so she took another sip of bourbon to warm her body a bit. Thinking about how angry Cassie was with her only made her stomach churn. Realizing there was nothing she could do to change what had happened between them, she willed herself not to think about that anymore, or how good it felt to be with her, or that Cassie liked her despite her at times, abrasive behaviour and the fact that she never made her apologize for it. Although there were quite a few occasions where she had tried to curb it with a dose of reality in the form of a small zap of her magic energy jumping from her fingertips to her backside, or anywhere else on her body that might get her full attention.

Reminiscing about the relatively short but sweet time they had together, Faye almost smiled as she lifted the bottle to her lips. She took several more sips of liquor and then turned off the faucet and climbed in the tub. She closed her eyes as the warm water washed over her and tried to relax and shut out everything around her, but she could hear the murmur of voices coming through the door in between the sound of thunder booming overhead. She tried to pick out Cassie talking above the others, and every now and then she could hear the strained tone of her voice through the doorway. When she realized she was talking to Jake and that she could feel magic resonating off of them onto her with their close proximity, her expression filled with pain and her shoulders and her heart sank down further. Slipping down underneath the soothing warmth of the water, she held her breath and then in a matter of a few short seconds popped back up again. She never liked the feeling of being totally submerged under water for too long, but despite the abbreviated length of time she was under a shiver of fear ran through her.

In order to calm herself, she reached for the loofah sponge and the body wash from the table next to the tub and after lathering it up she began slowly moving it sensually across her neck and shoulders. Her tense muscles finally beginning to relax she moved the loofah lower down across her breasts, teasing her nipples with it until she was biting her bottom lip and squeezing her legs together. She closed her eyes and as she did so thoughts of Cassie and their lovemaking began to rush through her head. As she continued to gently massage herself with the loofah, she began to fantasize that Cassie's hands were caressing her breasts. She groaned with pleasure as her nipples hardened to a painful state. The course feeling of the loofah getting a little too intense, she reached for more body wash and squirted it onto her stomach. She worked the loofah into a lather for a few moments, and then she spread her legs a little and slid it down to her mound and as she moved it back and forth and brought herself into a heightened state of arousal, Faye would have given anything to have her fantasy come true.

A minute or so later, huskily whispering Cassie's name, an intense orgasm racked her body for several long moments and when it finally subsided she took a deep breath, dropped the loofah and reached for the bourbon. After a quick sip she set the bottle back on the table. Licking her lips and sighing she slid her body further down under the warm water. Between pleasuring herself and the booze she was beginning to nod off but she was so relaxed she didn't want to leave the cozy warmth of the water, so she thought she would close her eyes for just a minute...

She felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her awake, although it wasn't really shaking her as much as pushing her. She couldn't seem to muster enough will power to open her eyes to see who it was even though she really wanted to because she felt herself sliding further down under the water. A panicked feeling overcame her as the icy cold water cascaded over her face filling her nose and mouth when she tried to scream. Once she was completely submerged under the water, her eyes flew open and immediately widened in fear. She could see the blurry outline of someone standing over her with their hands on her shoulders and as she struggled to get up she heard a low kind of chuckle. It was that sexy and cute laugh that stirred her memory from a couple of weeks ago when she was leaving the abandoned house with Melissa. As she tried to push herself up her chest rose out of the water and she heard another chuckle from somewhere, and then a hand moved down and cupped her left breast. In that same instant everything faded to black and the pressure on her shoulder was released. She popped up out of the water covered in weeds and mud, caught her breath and let out a blood curdling scream.

**A.N.** Next up...Part 2 of the bath scene and then 'Truth or Dare' remix...how it should have been.


	21. Chapter 21

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 21

Cassie stared at the fire burning strong in the fireplace. Her mind racing and her heart pounding, she turned to look at Jake to find him watching her. He had been teaching her to do a spell without chanting and she was more than a little weirded out by it all. She frowned, suddenly realizing that if she had been linked into his emotions while they'd been connected through their magic than that meant he had been linked into hers.

"Whoa...," she said, blushing with embarrassment. "That was intense."

"I know. Although 'intense' might be a bit of an understatement. Is there anything else you might want to add?" he asked and Cassie couldn't decide if he was mocking her or if he seriously wanted to know. She tried to determine what he might currently be thinking or feeling, but he was gazing at her with an expression on his face that was really hard to read.

"Yes," she said a little shakily. And then she took a deep breath to calm herself. "You lied to me."

Jake had told her that practicing magic with someone can tell you a lot about them. He was right...'intense' was definitely putting it mildly. The whole experience had been very intriguing, but if she'd just taken a glimpse into his psyche she wasn't exactly sure that she liked what she saw.

He grinned. "Would you have tried it with me if I told you the truth?"

Cassie opened her mouth to answer him, but before she could speak Diana came into the room carrying a tray of glasses.

"Oh my god how did you guys get the fire so powerful already?"

Trying to hide her inner turmoil from Diana, Cassie smiled at her pleasantly, when after setting the tray down next to the bottles of liquor on the coffee table, she sidled up next to her in front of the fireplace, which was already giving off a significant amount of heat.

"Cassie's got strong magic inside of her," Jake replied as he eyed her, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips, which disappeared when Diana glanced his way.

Cassie moved over closer to Jake to allow Diana more space to get nearer to the fires warmth, and as she did so her arm grazed his and she had to force herself not to pull away from him. Jake had said doing magic with him wouldn't hurt, but he had conveniently failed to mention the disturbing and confusing thoughts it would leave her with.

"It's so frickin' cold in this house," Diana said as she held out her hands to the open flame. "I think Faye had the right idea by taking a hot bath. My clothes are a little drier now, but I swear I'm still frozen down to the bone."

"Well, you can still take one if you want when Faye comes out," Cassie suggested, the realities of her life forcing her down from the tidal wave of Jake's emotions.

"Maybe I will," Diana said.

"Don't hold your breath," Jake said with a grin. "Faye likes long baths."

Diana looked at Cassie a little uncomfortably before she looked at Jake. "I'd ask how you know that, but then I probably don't want to know."

Jake smiled at her, his expression guarded. "I'll see if Adam needs any help with the drinks," he said and Cassie frowned as she turned to watch him leave.

"So what's up with you and Faye?" Diana asked her the moment he was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" she replied, hoping Diana wouldn't pick up on the catch in her voice.

"When Adam and I met up with you at your grandmother's house, I swear it looked like Faye would break into tears at any minute. I've never seen her that upset before. And then later, when Adam and I swung by her house to pick her up, she wasn't very happy to see us. Why didn't you tell her we were giving her a ride before she left your house?"

"Because of how...emotional Faye can get sometimes. Jake was there. I didn't want her to cause a scene in front of him."

Diana chuckled lightly. "Well she didn't quite cause a scene, but she did get really mad that she wasn't riding with you and Jake. She accused me of car blocking her. And then Adam gave me such a weird look, I started to freak out a little. "

Cassie gave a slight smile, remembering what Faye had said to Diana the night before when she walked in on them in bed together. "So…uh, I guess that was pretty awkward," she said glad that Diana had kept her promise not to tell Adam about their relationship. She didn't need any more drama in her life, especially when it concerned Faye. Not now when everything between them was hanging in the balance.

"Yeah, well luckily Adam doesn't suspect anything. I think he's under the impression that Faye still has a thing for Jake." She frowned. "Is that what you guys are fighting about? Is Faye jealous that he's showing an interest in you?"

Cassie started to shake her head. "Uh…no…I mean…maybe." She looked at Diana sheepishly, knowing that Adam didn't like Jake and was against him being a part of their Circle. "Look Diana I'm sorry about shoving my problems on you. I guess I didn't handle that very well." She pursed her lips in thought, wondering if she should risk telling Diana the full story.

"After Faye told me earlier that Melissa's mom took her out of town for a while, I got worried, so I called her and she explained what happened at school this morning."

"Really?" Cassie asked, surprised. "What did she say?"

"Not a whole lot. Just that she had a major melt down about Nick while you and Faye were having an argument in the girls bathroom. And that things got pretty intense between you."

"Yeah, I feel really bad about that. It's only been two weeks since Nick died. Both Faye and I should have been more sensitive to her feelings."

"So...are you two still fighting?" Diana asked curiously and when she didn't answer right away, Cassie watched a grim look wash over her face. "Do you want to talk about?" she asked hesitantly.

"No." Cassie said, deciding against telling her that she and Faye weren't together anymore and how confused and conflicted she was about how things ended between them. "It's too complicated to get into right now."

Cassie was wishing she could open up to Diana, and that she didn't have to keep pretending to everyone that nothing was wrong when she suddenly heard a scream coming from down the hallway.

"That's Faye," Diana said, stating the obvious.

In a sudden panic Cassie turned and ran toward the direction of where Faye was. She was halfway down the hallway when she saw her rushing out of the bathroom, dripping wet and wrapped in nothing but a towel. With a look of sheer terror in her eyes that was unmistakable she slammed the door behind her and headed straight for her, all the while talking in a hysterical voice about something happening to her...and that she saw someone...and then something weird about mud and weeds. Cassie couldn't make much sense of what she was trying to say.

"Faye calm down," she said gently, cringing a little at the grip she had on her arm.

"Someone tried to kill me," she said and although Cassie was already coming down from the adrenaline rush from hearing her scream of terror, the thought that someone had tried to hurt her sent a flash of rage coursing through her. With Diana close on her heels the two of them headed towards the bathroom, with Faye slowly lagging behind.

Cassie flung open the bathroom door and cautiously looked around, but there was no sign of anyone, and despite Faye's wide eyed rantings about the bathwater, it appeared to be clear.

"Everything looks...normal," she told Faye, as she stood nervously just outside of the doorway.

Faye looked at her a bit dubiously and Cassie stepped aside as she walked back into the bathroom to see for herself. "But...it was filled with mud and weeds," she said seeming really confused.

"Maybe you had a few sips too many," Diana suggested as she caught sight of the nearly empty bottle of Bourbon on the table near the tub and Cassie frowned, remembering it had been at least half full when Faye had sauntered out of the room as if she couldn't care a less that she had crushed her heart to pieces earlier that day. She knew Faye had a hard time expressing her feelings and she sometimes used potions to help her cope, but typically she wasn't one to hit the bottle.

"I'm not drunk," Faye insisted, but Cassie wasn't too sure about that, thinking she probably didn't have much tolerance for alcohol.

"Did you fall asleep?" Jake asked, suddenly appearing in the hallway behind them.

"No," Faye said emphatically, before looking to her as if to ask her for help. Cassie raised her brow and shrugged, not sure what she wanted her to do and Faye heaved a heavy sigh.

"Forget the whole thing. Just get out," she said obviously annoyed and lashing out in frustration. Diana and Jake turned to leave, and after a moments hesitation so did Cassie, but Faye grabbed her arm and rather roughly pulled her back into the room.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

"What?" Cassie asked in confusion.

"You're the only one around here that can do individual magic. You said it yourself." Still unclear what she was accusing her of Cassie looked at Faye questioningly.

"The voices...the boots..." she prodded. She motioning toward the tub. "Whatever _that_ was."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. She didn't particularly care for her tone of voice, but she was trying to keep her temper in control, knowing Faye was somewhat drunk and had just had a scare.

"Are you messing with me?" she asked. "Maybe trying to get back at me because you think I stole your crystal?"

"No I wouldn't do something as ridiculous as that," Cassie replied taking great pains to keep her voice low. "If I really wanted to punish you..." She crossed her arms and glared at her. "...I'd do something a lot worse."

Faye just stood there staring at her for a few moments with an angry and confused look on her face, but before she could figure out what snide comment she wanted to throw back at her, Cassie turned to leave.

She stopped at the doorway and turned around to look at her. "And by the way," she said. "I'm not the only one in our Circle who can do magic on their own." Cassie sighed irritably when Faye crossed her arms and raised her brow.

"It's Jake isn't it?" she asked her, but instead of answering her, Cassie just gave her a look, already seeing a jealous rage building inside of her.

After a few moments Faye made a huffing sound, Cassie's silence telling her it was true.

"That's such fucking bullshit!" she spat out, her words starting to slur a little, and then she spun around towards the table and reached for the bottle of liquor. But she'd already had way too much to drink and when she bent over, she had to grab on to the edge of the bathtub to steady herself. Bottle in hand, she headed for the door but Cassie noticed she was weaving back and forth a bit as she approached her.

"Faye," she warned her as she was passing her by. "I don't think you need any more to drink tonight."

"Screw you," she threw over her shoulder. Cassie reached out to steady her when she stumbled again and when she did Faye tried to throw her arms off and then at the same time, Cassie slipped in a puddle of water and they both lost their balance and tumbled to the floor. As they lay in a pile of limbs a wrestling match ensued for the bottle and during the struggle Faye's towel came undone. Cassie being the more sober of the two won in the end. She pinned Faye down to keep her from struggling, and then smirking her victory, she leaned in to kiss her...

**A.N. **So what do you think...break up sex or make up sex or no sex? Sorry I postponed the truth or dare scene, but after the next chapter it might just make it more interesting.**  
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	22. Chapter 22

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 22

_Faye's POV..._

"Faye," Cassie warned her as she was passing her by. "I don't think you need any more to drink tonight."

"Screw you," she threw over her shoulder.

Cassie reached out to steady her when she stumbled again and when she did Faye tried to throw her arms off and then at the same time, Cassie slipped in a puddle of water and they both lost their balance and tumbled to the floor. As they lay in a pile of limbs a wrestling match ensued for the bottle and during the struggle Faye's towel came undone.

Cassie's knees straddling her hips, Faye twisted underneath her body in an attempt to break the hold she had on her, but she was stronger than she would have thought or maybe just a lot less inebriated either way she found herself subdued, arms pinned over her head, trapped by the solid grip and icy blue glare of her ex-girlfriend's eyes. Anger and envy spreading through her like a wildfire in a hurricane she was on the verge of telling Cassie to get off of her...but not in a nice way...when she saw a smirk forming on her lips. As soon as she saw it she knew she was in trouble when she sensed it was more of a cocky smirk rather than a playful one. Knowing how stubborn Cassie could be when she was trying to prove a point she immediately began forming the words to a spell in her mind to try to gain the upper hand in the situation.

With the first words to the spell rolling off of her tongue Cassie hastily lowered her head and met Faye's parted lips with hers, effectively silencing her and putting a halt to her plan to use magic to throw her off of her. Even though Faye was still steaming inside that she had let Cassie get the best of her, when she started kissing her all thoughts of the spell drifted from her mind. Her body relaxing under Cassie's weight she soon came to the realization that the kiss was a rather interesting contradiction to what she was used to. Cassie kissed her hard and forcefully, pushing her tongue deep into her mouth. Once the initial shock wore off, Faye started kissing her back, swirling her tongue around hers. An almost inaudible moan escaping her lips, she thrust her hips up to add pressure when Cassie started grinding into her. She was just beginning to get really turned on when she suddenly drew her mouth away from hers.

"You were chanting a spell before to try to get what you wanted without considering if it might hurt me, weren't you?"

The unexpectedness of the question was enough to break her lust filled gaze. Faye nodded, not liking the look in Cassie's eyes.

_Diana's POV..._

Not long after, Diana left the parlor in search of both Cassie and Faye. She picked up a wet towel from the floor just outside the bathroom, thinking it a little odd. The bathroom door was wide open so she peeked inside to find the room empty. She hung up the towel to dry and then left to search the spare bedrooms that she knew were downstairs. She headed down the hallway following two sets of wet footprints that led straight to the room to the right. The door was partially closed and she stopped to listen when she heard the sound of moaning coming from inside. She raised a brow curiously, having a pretty good idea what was happening. Faye and Cassie were having sex. Or maybe not she thought when she heard the slapping of bare flesh. Just what kind of strange and kinky sex do two lesbian witches have she wondered as she put her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing.

"Did you just spank me?"

"Somebody needed to do it."

"Well not you since you're not my girlfriend anymore."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Really? You're still mad at me about that? I told you I didn't take your fucking crystal Cassie."

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"No but I'll kiss your boobs with it. Or anywhere else you want me to. I just really wish you would forgive me for NOT taking your crystal."

"You know you're really obnoxious when you're drunk Faye."

"And all this sexual tension is seriously killing my buzz. Now give me back my bottle of bourbon."

"No."

"But I want another drink...hey no fair...you're drinking it all. And that's my granddaddy's best whiskey."

"Let go of my arm Faye. Or I'll zap you with my magic."

"I don't care...just give me the fucking bo..Gah! Not my hooha Cassie. You know how horny that makes me feel. And you're not going to do more than kiss me?"

"And oh gee, I wonder why that is?"

"Because you're being a tease?"

When she suddenly heard a sound from the other end of the hallway, Diana quickly turned around and headed back to the parlor while thinking of a plausible story to stall for time for Cassie and Faye to work out their problems. And from the sound of things, they were going to need a lot of it.

**A.N.** So as you can see, I opted for some sex in this chapter. I know this is short...consider it a Thanksgiving bonus or whatever. Next chapter is truth or dare the remix.


	23. Chapter 23

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 23

"Because you're being a tease?"

Cassie blinked her surprise and taking into account the faint grin crossing her petulant expression and the fact that she was sitting completely nude next to her on the bed she said, "I'm not being a tease Faye."

"You are so," she said stubbornly, and as if to emphasize her discomfort she squeezed her legs together lightly. "I want you so badly Cassie."

Cassie melted a little inside at the soft moan that escaped her and as Faye tucked her bottom lip underneath her top teeth the sensual movement made it nearly impossible to resist her. She set the bottle of whiskey down on the nightstand and turned back around and stared at her. Faye stared right back, the sex blush on her face and her taut nipples cluing her in as to her current predicament. It was hard to argue with her, Faye's hotness was a distraction.

When she leaned in to kiss her Cassie moved in to meet her halfway. She closed her eyes and as Faye's lips lightly grazed hers she could feel her heart racing in anticipation of what was to come. Faye ran her tongue around her mouth, gently tracing the contours of her lips as they parted. She shuddered in excitement at her warm breath, a prelude to the probing sweep of her tongue. Pressing her lips firmly against hers, the kiss deepened with passion and Cassie's tongue sought hers. She was returning the favor, swirling her tongue inside Faye's mouth when she felt her lips turning up in a smile. In the next instant the kiss stopped and Faye was pulling away from her to whisper in her ear.

"I win."

"Oh wow Faye," Cassie said with a short gasp of disbelief when she opened her eyes and saw her smirking at her and holding the bottle of whiskey they had, only moments ago, been fighting over in her hand. Crossing her arms she looked away and fumed in silence for a moment, while attempting to calm her libido.

"Come on Cassie, don't be like that," Faye said in a voice that was only faintly slurred from drinking too much. "I was just giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"I told you I wasn't trying to tease you or lead you on. At least that wasn't my intention."

"Oh don't get all mad," she replied with a hint of an amused smirk still tugging at her lips and then she reached back to adjust the pillows behind her, and as she fumbled awkwardly with the menagerie of stuffed animals in front of them Cassie got up off the bed. "Where are you going?"

"I think we're done here," she said grabbing the bottle of liquor out of Faye's lap and she set it back down on the nightstand with a clink of finality.

"But…I thought we were just getting started."

"Started with what?" Cassie asked turning back around to meet her eyes with an intense glare. Faye smiled at her and when Cassie didn't smile back at her, she let out her breath in a huff of indignation.

"Oh my god Cassie. I can't believe how mean you're being to me."

"And I can't believe I even bothered bringing you in here," Cassie countered and after a moment of thought Faye's eye's widened and her brow shot up.

"And why _did_ you bring me in here?" she asked. "I mean things were just starting to get hot and heavy between us and then you drag me in here and spank me? If I didn't know better I'd think you didn't like me at all."

"If you weren't so busy acting like a spoiled brat, you'd understand that I was trying to make a point." Cassie sighed inwardly as she looked away in realization that Faye had completely missed the point she was trying to make...not that she was entirely clear on it herself anymore, she thought, crossing her arms to hide her state of arousal. She glanced around the room noticing an expensive pair of designer jeans folded over a nearby chair and a various assortment of girls clothing...surprisingly only half of which were black...hanging in the closet. Thinking the room was Faye's to use when she came to visit her grandfather, she said, "I'll let you get dressed."

"Oh no you don't," Faye said and then she grabbed her arm and pulled her back down on the bed and as she turned to look at her, a hint of a smile once again appeared on her lips. "You're not going anywhere until you finish what you started."

Thinking she meant that they would finally attempt to resolve the issues that were driving them apart Cassie said, "But everyone's probably already wondering where we are."

"Screw them," Faye replied with an emphatic tone that stirred a flicker of hope in her heart. "I'm naked and horny and for some reason even though you wouldn't let me touch you before, I'm still really turned on. So if that's the point you were trying to make," she said pausing as if to find the right words, "then fine I'll admit it, I like you being in control. I promise I won't do anything more than kiss you..." Her gaze moving down to Cassie's mouth thoughtfully, she slid the tip off her tongue across her bottom lip, as if tasting a memory. "Your lips are so soft and delicious; I can probably get off just kissing them."

Cassie blushed and narrowed her eyes in disappointment. "Stop it Faye," she said, not amused at her attempt to manipulate her. "Sex isn't always the answer to everything."

"But I need you," she insisted with a pout that she managed to look sexy even in her intoxicated state. "I'm so hot and wet for you Cassie, I'll do anything you want, please just wrap your lips around mine and fuck me like you did last night. I really want..."

Feeling the heat on her face spreading down to her groin, Cassie interrupted her. "And it's not always about what _you_ want either," she said in a cool but determined voice.

"So what was all this about then, to teach me a lesson?" Faye asked throwing her hands up in the air and Cassie flinched a bit when her hand came down and she accidentally slapped her leg. In the next moment she had to discreetly move Faye's hand away from the inside of her thigh when she felt her absently rubbing the sting from it. "Because if you're intent was to punish me you're right, playing with my emotions is a lot more cruel than drowning. What do you want from me Cassie?"

Cassie gazed into her eyes while she considered the question. A voice inside her was warning her now wasn't the time, that Faye was too drunk and horny to listen, but she had asked and she knew she had to say something.

"You want to know what I want Faye? I want you to be honest and truthful with me. And until you can do that, I don't see us being in a relationship. Not even if its just friendship. Maybe that's what went wrong. We jumped into this thing between us without really getting to know each other first. I know a lot of really bad things have been happening in our lives, one right after the other, and we haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to ourselves to talk about our feelings, but if we want to make this more meaningful that's the only way I can see it working out between us."

Cassie wasn't sure what she expected but Faye just sat there an unreadable expression on her face for several excruciatingly long seconds.

"Faye? Were you even listening to me?" she asked in slight exasperation. She watched her take a breath before speaking and seeing a familiar smirk on her face she steeled herself for her response.

"Sure...you want a heart to heart connection, you telling me that you need me more than you thought you would, and me telling you how miserable my life is without you? Fine I can do that, as long as while we're chatting away about sex and relationships we can actually _have_ sex. In depth and emotional conversations without something as a distraction are a real bore."

Cassie paused for a moment, and mulling over what Faye had said she found herself wishing she had listened to the voice in her head. "You're obviously too drunk to realize anything I'm trying to say here," she told her as she got up off the bed.

"I'm not that drunk to realize you're being a bitch."

Choosing to ignore her, Cassie turned to leave. "We'll talk about this at another time, preferably when you're sober." She was halfway across the room when a stuffed teddy bear flew over her head.

"If you're ditching me to go hook up with Jake, don't. He'll just screw you and leave you."

"Grow up Faye," she threw over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

Her lips still tingling from kissing her, and her hand still stinging a little from spanking her, Cassie headed down the hallway all the while wondering what she was doing. She'd never in her life had so many conflicting emotions for one person at the same time before and it was beginning to wear her down to the point where she wanted to give in. Whether it was out of fear for losing Faye for good or because she was still kind of turned on from kissing her she didn't know. But what she did know was that she was seriously contemplating heading back down the hallway, throwing open the bedroom door and ravishing Faye until they were both quivering with orgasms. What the hell was wrong with her, she asked herself after realizing she was actually considering forgiving her for betraying her trust just so they could have sex again. She couldn't believe it, more so because Faye hadn't even admitted the truth she was hiding from her. But then again, neither had she.

As Cassie walked into the parlor Diana looked up from pouring herself a drink, and gave her somewhat of an astonished look. "Back so soon? What happened?"

"Nothing," she told her as she sat down on the cushioned lounge chair across from the fireplace.

"So you and Faye didn't make up?" she asked sounding confused.

Cassie shook her head, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Oh...I thought for sure after I heard..."

"After you heard...what..." she prodded her when Diana blushed and averted her eyes for a moment.

"Never mind," she said smiling warmly at her. "I guess I was just hoping that what happened with Faye would bring you guys closer and you would finally kiss and make up."

"Yeah," Cassie sulked, "me too." If only it were that simple, she thought as she sighed quietly to herself.

"Here," Diana said offering her the whiskey she'd just poured for herself. "It looks like you can use this."

"Thanks," she said reaching over and taking the glass from her, but instead of drinking it, she held it in her hand gazing down into it, the amber tone of the liquor reflecting the fire in the fireplace and reminding her of the color of Faye's eyes when sunlight touched them.

"What Faye was saying happened to her was really weird," Diana said as she poured another drink for herself.

"What?" Cassie asked looking up to meet her eyes.

"That whole thing about someone holding her under water and trying to drown her. Faye was so convinced it was real."

Cassie nodded slowly, and remembering the scene in the bathroom she grimaced a little. "She got so mad at us when she thought we didn't believe her." And why didn't they believe her? How could she have just assumed she was imagining it all, she asked herself? Weird and terrorizing things had a tendency to happen around them. Could magic be involved somehow?

"She did get pretty angry, didn't she?" Diana said with a slight grin. She set the bottle down and picking up her glass looked at her a bit oddly. "I bet she'll never do that again."

"Do what?" Cassie asked still a little distracted by the thought that she had dismissed Faye's insistent claim that someone had purposely tried to harm her so easily.

"You know..." She shrugged, "...drink too much and then fall asleep in the bathtub."

"Oh...Yeah...that. Well I think she's learned her lesson." Although knowing Faye, she highly doubted it.

"Hopefully," Diana said, her mischievous smile catching Cassie's attention. "But you know Faye, sometimes she has to learn the hard way." A twinkle of laughter in her eyes, she settled back on the pillows and raised her glass in the air. "Bottoms up?" she said before bringing the liquor to her lips.

After a moment or two of curious speculation Cassie decided Diana wasn't implying a double meaning with her drinking toast. Raising her glass to her mouth she took a large swallow. She was wincing a little at the burn when Adam and Jake strode into the room carrying an armful of sodas and juices between them for mixed drinks.

**A.N.** I know the majority of the reviews requested make up sex. I'm not ignoring you, just prolonging the sexual tension between Cassie and Faye to develop more of the story line. I promise it will happen eventually. This story's not all about the sex (_cough yeah right),_ so just be patient. Truth or Dare scene to follow, but just as a warning the next chapter won't be about the game as much as what happens afterwards. Anyway let me know how you like this so far.


	24. Chapter 24

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 24

"Sorry Diana," Adam said as he set a couple of cans of coke, a bag of chips and an open tin of pretzels down on the coffee table. "I searched through the wine rack like you asked me to, but I don't know much about wines at all other than to avoid the ones that come in a box. I don't think Faye's grandfather would appreciate coming home to find his highly-sought after bottle of red wine missing."

"He'd be cool with it," Faye said as she came around the corner, and a little surprised that she'd gotten dressed and managed to tie her hair back in a perfect pony tail so quickly, Cassie watched her closely as she strolled into the room and plunked herself down on the ottoman across from her.

"Really?" Diana asked. "He's not going to be upset that the liquor cabinet's been raided?"

"Oh he'll be pissed about it at first, but he won't do anything if he finds out it was me. We don't get a chance to see each other that often, but I've got my granddaddy wrapped around my finger pretty tight."

Cassie smiled, not doubting it for a second, but remembering how her grandmother had unexpectedly grounded her for the role she'd played in Nick's death she said jokingly, "You shouldn't assume that he'll always give in to you. People can surprise you sometimes."

Faye turned away from looking at Diana, and her eyes landing on Cassie, she bit her bottom lip in thought before replying, "And you're just full of surprises tonight aren't you Cassie."

Cassie could hear the angry and hurt tone in her voice. She couldn't blame her; she shouldn't have expected Faye to listen to anything she had to say. On top of being tipsy to the point of not caring how she might come across, she'd had that bad scare in the bathtub. Why hadn't she been more understanding towards her instead of throwing Jake's power's up in her face like that? But...damn it...

Cassie stared in annoyed disbelief when Faye picked up a bottle from the coffee table in front of her and filled up a shot glass with vodka.

"I don't think it's a good idea to mix different alcohols together Faye." There was a moment of silence as everyone regarded the quiet intensity behind her words and then all eyes turned toward Faye.

"I can handle it." She picked up her glass and glared at her briefly and then she looked away, threw her head back and downed the vodka in one shot. Shuddering a bit, she slammed her glass down on the table, licked her lips and added cheekily, "And besides, why do you even care? You're not the queen of...fucking anything that has to do with me."

Cassie held her gaze, quickly determining from the arch of her brow she was issuing her a challenge. More than anything, she wanted to accept and tell her that she did really care for her and that she was sorry for being so insensitive earlier, but with a room full of curious onlookers she knew now wasn't the time. They stared intently at each other across the coffee table…the unspoken words between them hanging heavily in the air…until a shifting log in the fireplace broke the spell.

Cassie slowly dropped her gaze to glance around the room. Adam was looking back and forth between them as he sat down next to Diana seeming a little confused by their exchange, and stretching his long limbs across the length of the couch opposite them, Jake furrowed his brow at her. She furrowed her brow back at him and smiled to cover her embarrassment, before shooting a worried glance back at Faye, who after catching her eye looked sullenly away from her.

In the awkward silence that followed Diana leaned forward and set her glass down on the table. "We need some music," she said and then she jumped up off the couch and headed toward the ancient looking radio on the bookshelf. Cassie watched with a vague interest as she began searching through the stations until she found a song she liked. Jake and Adam busied themselves with mixing their drinks.

"What about those Seahawks," Adam said out of the blue and Diana finished adjusting the volume knob on the radio, looked over at him and frowned.

"Please...no sports..."

"Why not?" Jake asked with a grin, but instead of answering him she shook her head and rolled her eyes as she passed by the sofa he was sprawled across.

"Because sports are a bore."

Cassie took one look at Faye as she poured herself another shot of vodka, and seethed a little inwardly at the way she seemed to be enjoying pushing her buttons. Although she wasn't much of a fan of football she said distractedly, "So are the Seahawks the team with the blue and lime green uniforms?"

Jake and Adam looked at her with shocked expressions and then they glanced at each other across the coffee table and grinned, quickly joining in a camaraderie of the smell of pigskin, artificial turf and the sound of shoulder pads crashing together. After a short conversation about football and what team they thought was going to the Super Bowl, Faye decided to make her restless nature known.

"Way too much macho bullshit in here," she drawled in a sarcastic tone that they were all extremely familiar with and Diana laughed.

"Amen to that," she said, for once in agreement with her, and of the same sentiment that the idle chit chat about sports wasn't really holding her interest, Cassie nodded, not surprised at all by Faye's verbal protest. In fact, she'd been about to suggest a shift of topic herself, but perhaps a bit more politely.

Seeming more perturbed than he ought to be by the slightly rude interruption, Jake motioned with his glass towards them. "Then why don't the three of you girls talk amongst yourselves for a while? Maybe you can discuss make-up and clothes or something."

Cassie stared at him blankly. It took her a moment to realize he was teasing them, but Faye either didn't catch on or was deliberately trying to antagonize him.

"Or maybe we can all talk about why the witch hunter's didn't put Jake in the circle with the rest of us," she said snarkily.

"He already explained that," Cassie asserted when she saw Jake's sudden look of uneasiness.

"What the hell Cassie," Faye said in an incredulous manner. "You changed your mind about Jake pretty fast. Just last night you said you didn't trust him. Are you totally blowing off the conversation we had while we were in..."

"I know...Maybe we can talk about what might be a good way to protect ourselves against another attack," Cassie hastily suggested, just knowing Faye was going to mention that they had been in bed together during that conversation. "Jake says he found a magic spell in his families Book of Shadow's that might be useful."

"'Jake says?' Since when are you in a 'Jake says' place?" Faye asked her and at the bitchy, jealous girlfriend act that she was putting on, Cassie busied herself with the task of pouring another drink, even though her glass was still half full.

"Oh please," Diana said as she reached over and took a handful of pretzels out of the tin. "Can we not have any more talk about magic or witch hunters tonight?"

"Fine then, how about we play a game of truth or dare?" Faye said with a sudden sparkle of interest that boded ill for them all.

"Sounds good to me," Diana managed to get out while chewing a mouthful of pretzels.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Adam said, evidently not quite concurring with her.

"So..." Faye began, completely ignoring him, and after glancing around the room her gaze landed on Jake. "Jake..."

"I can't believe we're doing this," he said seeming more wary than interested and glancing back at Faye, Cassie felt equally as cautious, knowing the mood she was in.

"First of all, there's no TV or internet," Faye explained and Cassie didn't miss the way she made a point to shift her gaze to her before continuing. "And second, what better way to get to know each other. So what will it be." She turned her attention back to Jake. "Truth or dare."

"Dare," he said meeting her challenging glare with one of his own.

"Hmmm," she said thoughtfully. "I dare you to...kiss Diana."

"I have a feeling this isn't going to end well," Cassie muttered half under her breath.

Jake looked across the table at Diana, right away his gaze straying to her lips. He raised a brow as if contemplating going through with Faye's dare, until the strained sound of Adam's anguish brought him to his senses. "As much as I might enjoy that, I believe I'll decline."

"Good choice," Adam said staring across the table at him as he swilled the liquor around in his glass in an agitated manner. Slowly bringing the glass to his lips, it sloshed onto his shirt when Diana slapped his arm.

"Thanks a lot Adam," she said, and paying no attention whatsoever to the hurt puppy dog look on his face she reached for the bag of sour cream and onion flavored potato chips on the coffee table. "I guess I might as well eat these too since no one's going to be kissing me tonight."

"I'd still kiss you," Adam said and then he grinned at her when she turned around to look at him.

"So truth then," Faye said sounding annoyed and everyone shifted their attention back to her. She stared at Jake in thought for a few moments before asking, "What kind of kinks are you into these days?" And Cassie almost sprayed her mouthful of whiskey across the room.

"Kinks?" he asked.

"Oh don't play all doe eyed farm boy with me you know what I'm talking about...what get's your rocks off...threesomes? nude wrestling matches between big breasted women...being tied up? If you're thinking about hooking up with Cassie, I have a feeling she might just enjoy playing a game of tease and torment. Am I right Cassie?"

A blush sweeping across her face, Cassie looked around the room feeling all eyes upon her. Everyone was staring at her curiously, but that quickly shifted when Diana suddenly started making choking sounds.

"Are you alright?" Adam asked and when he put a hand on her back she nodded and quickly stood up.

"I'm fine..." She coughed a couple of times as if to try to clear her throat. "But I could use a glass of water."

Adam stood up. "I'll get it for you," he said, but she put a hand on his arm.

"No...I'll get it." Brushing by him she headed for the kitchen, but not before fixing Cassie with a look over her shoulder that suggested she should follow her.

When she set down her glass and caught Faye smirking at her Cassie narrowed her eyes in a silent warning.

"I'll go see if Diana's okay," she said as she rose from her chair.

When she got to the kitchen, Diana pulled her roughly aside. "You know you might want to tone down all the tension filled banter and eye sex between you two before Jake and Adam catch on that you guys are gay for each other."

"Wow Diana," Cassie said in amazement. "I realize you might be on edge from keeping this kind of secret from Adam, but you don't have to be so fucking blunt about it."

Diana's crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Talk about being blunt, what are you taking lessons from Faye?"

"I'm sorry Diana, I'm just as tense as you about this. I hate having to hide such a major part of my life from people."

"So your grandmother doesn't know?" Diana asked and a concerned look came over her when Cassie shook her head. "That must really be hard for you. I know how you feel though...well to some extent anyway. I hate not being able to tell my dad about the Circle and everything that's been happening in my life lately. I used to come to him for all sorts of advice, but now..." Her voice trailed off and a distant look came into her eyes.

"I guess we all have our fair share of secrets in our lives," Cassie said and then they both turned at the same time when they saw Adam walking towards them.

"It's truth or dare Faye, not truth or fair," Jake's deep voice came from the parlor.

"If you two are hiding out I don't blame you," Adam said as he joined them in the kitchen. "Faye's being a royal pain in the ass tonight. What the hell's wrong with her?"

Diana gave Cassie a look before shrugging. "It's a girl thing so you probably don't want to know."

Adam just stood there with a blank expression on his face and then he blushed before turning around and heading back into the parlor. As they watched him leave, Diana laughed.

"Come on Cassie," she said taking her arm. "Let's go finish playing the game. Faye's right, it'll give us a chance to get to know each other better."

"I don't know," Cassie said dubiously as she let Diana lead her back into the parlor. "I'm already getting way too familiar with Faye's obnoxious side."

**A.N**. I know this is short, but I wanted to get a chapter out today. Next up Truth or Dare remix part 2 and the aftermath. I have a feeling I'll be ducking for cover after that one. lol


	25. Chapter 25

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 25

Diana was still laughing at Cassie's comment when they walked back into the parlor.

"What's so funny?" Adam asked her as she sat down next to him.

"Nothing," she said, grinning. "So where are we at in the game?"

"It's my turn."

"Faye," Diana scolded her. "Don't be a cheater."

"I'm not," she said and then she rolled her eyes in a playful way. "For gods sake. It's just a game Diana. Loosen up already."

"That's not gonna happen," Adam said grinning and Cassie was surprised when Jake laughed.

"But Jake didn't even answer your 'truth' Faye," Diana said. "How is it your turn?"

"Because we finished the first round while you and Cassie were off…doing whatever it was you were doing in the kitchen," she replied. "And then Jake dared me to flash my boobs."

Cassie looked up. She had to ask. "And did you?"

"What do you think?" Faye said with a smirk, but Cassie wasn't amused.

Diana looked at Adam. "Did she?"

Adam shrugged. "Maybe when I left the room to see what was taking you so long." He glanced questioningly across the table at Jake, who gave a noncommittal look back.

"Fine," Cassie said in a serious voice, assuming Jake's somewhat guilty smirk and his reluctance to answer meant it was true. "Let's just finish the game."

Faye tilted her head, her eyes glinting with half amusement and half curiosity. "Are you mad at me Cassie?"

"No." Cassie blinked and then she had to avert her gaze for a few moments. "Of course not."

"Are you sure?" Faye asked wondering if she was jealous over the idea of Jake seeing her naked breasts or if she was jealous that he had wanted to. "Because if you really want to know, I didn't do that dare because Jake refused to answer on his turn. Although that's not the only reason." She hesitated before continuing. "Do you believe me?" She studied Cassie closely, not liking what she was seeing.

"Is your question part of the game?" Cassie replied and she took a sip of her drink as she waited for her to decide.

"Yes," she snapped, coming to realize that Cassie didn't believe her. "But the 'truth' question is a two parter." She glared at her accusingly. "Do you ever plan on believing me or is it always going to be like this."

Adam frowned in confusion. "Why am I getting the impression she's not talking about whether or not she flashed her boobs anymore. And why should Faye care what Cassie thinks anyway?"

"Adam shut up," Diana said in a gentle but annoyed tone. "Let Cassie answer."

"Like what Faye?" Cassie asked.

"You believing someone who says to trust them, but then never gives you any reason to, over me?"

The longer she waited for Cassie to answer her, the more pissed off Faye got. She was so tired of her hypocritical actions, she was always lecturing her to be honest with her feelings and to tell her the truth, but when it came to being truthful about their relationship and who she really was she chickened out.

Not all that surprised at what a simple game of truth or dare was turning into, Cassie looked around the room, taking in Jake and Adam's curious looks. Her gaze landed on Diana, who smiled encouragingly at her. But she knew there was no way to truthfully answer Faye's question without opening up the door to speculation on their sexuality. She hesitated, conflicted and confused, not only about what to believe, but what she wanted. Finally coming to a decision she looked back at Faye. "Dare."

"Better choice," Faye replied in a determined voice, knowing there was one way she could try to get Cassie to commit to her feelings. "I dare you to confess who you've slept with or…" Her gaze drifted down to Cassie's mouth and a half smirk flickered across her lips.

"Kiss Jake," Diana suddenly threw in before Faye could complete the 'or' portion of her challenge, which was for Cassie to kiss her. What the hell? she thought as she shot an annoyed look at Diana.

At the combination of angry, annoyed and surprised glances she was getting, Diana quickly realized her mistake. She glanced down at the drink in her hand, carefully avoiding everyone's gaze.

And no one was more angry, annoyed and surprised than Cassie. She couldn't believe Diana of all people had put her on the spot like that. She had thought she was her friend. She glanced across the coffee table…And Faye…trying to force her hand in outing herself to Jake and Adam. She wasn't prepared to do that…for whatever reasons, it didn't matter what. She narrowed her eyes at Faye, knowing good and well what all this was really about. She was trying to get her way again, without concern for who might get hurt.

Very slowly and very deliberately she rose from her chair knowing there was only one thing for her to do. She could feel all eyes upon her as she approached Jake and she blushed in anticipation, the irony of the situation being that she would get no enjoyment from kissing him knowing in doing so she would be hurting the one she loved and cared about the most. But Faye had made the decision to bring their private relationship into the game and had left her no choice.

She sat down next to him, leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was slow and actually quite intimate and sensual. There was no doubt Jake was a good kisser. But unlike when she kissed Faye, there was no sparkage between them whatsoever...at least not on her end. The real passion and sparkage came when the kiss ended and she turned around to face Faye. And it was pretty intense sparkage too, a lot more than she had intended to create by kissing Jake.

Faye slammed her glass down on the table and rose to her feet. "_You_ are a one woman relationship wrecking crew!" she said pointing an accusing finger at her as she drew nearer and Cassie stood up with an equal measure of anger and conviction.

"And _you_ are a bitchy spoiled little girl who wants to blame _me_ for all of your problems instead of just looking in the mirror!" she said in retaliation, eliciting a look of shock and hurt on Faye's face that stayed with her as she grabbed her handbag and strode towards the door.

The moment the door slammed behind her Cassie thought about following her, but then she decided she wanted to be alone.

_Of course Faye wants to be alone,_ Cassie thought._ She broke up with me today after the fight we had about my crystal and even if that hadn't been what she wanted to happen, she knew what she was doing then, just like she knew what she was doing now, no matter how she tried to put the blame on me._

But yet even though she knew she shouldn't be feeling guilty for what she said to her in the heat of the moment she couldn't help it, something just didn't feel right.

_Why does this always happen,_ she asked herself. Even when she was fighting with Faye she still wanted to be with her.

Cassie replayed the last words she had said to her and her heart clenched tightly in her chest. She could still see the look on her face. She couldn't imagine the pain she must be feeling.

_But dammit…what about me? Don't my feelings count too_, she asked herself?

Does she even know how much hurt she had caused her? Would it have made a difference if she'd taken the time to tell her how hard she'd fallen for her?

Cassie was still arguing with herself when she heard the alarm on her car going off.

"It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt," Jake said coming up to stand beside her.

_"Oh shit,"_ Cassie thought when she looked at the table and realized what Faye had taken along with her purse. "I can't fucking believe it."

"What?" Jake asked.

"Faye...she took my car keys."

"Cassie...just let her go," Jake said as she headed for the door, but she ignored him.

How could Faye even consider getting behind the wheel and trying to drive home? As she thought about the level of alcohol she'd consumed that night Cassie started to panic. Not even bothering to shut the door behind her, she ran towards where she'd parked her car. It was pitch black outside with the rainclouds blocking the moon, and as she ran across the rain soaked grass she stumbled over a root of a tree, but managed to catch herself before she fell. Her heart beating heavily in her chest, she was almost to the driveway when she heard a screech and the sound of rubber skidding on mud followed by a loud crash...

**A.N.** I hope you enjoyed the subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) differences to the truth and dare scene. Like I said in an earlier chapter, I'm not following the story line of the show exactly. Let me know what you think of it so far.


	26. Chapter 26

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 26

Faye walked out of her grandfather's house with a purpose. She couldn't take it anymore, she had to do something. Slamming the door solidly behind her, she darted across the lawn through the steady rain, her eyes glittering angrily and her heart cold with pain and misery. It was a dark night, with storm clouds completely blanketing the stars. The only illumination a brief flash of lighting, she managed to maneuver her way across very wet and slippery ground to Cassie's car without falling on her ass. If she did fall she'd have no one to blame but herself. Too broken up inside to smirk at the irony, she reached for the door handle and as she did so, a small voice in her head was telling her what she was doing might not be such a good idea. She ignored it.

When the car alarm started going off and the headlights began blinking she cursed loudly as she fumbled for the remote on the car keys, remembering too late that Cassie hadn't listened to her. She had told her not to bother locking her car, that they were in the countryside and it was safe here and no one would want to steal her ugly green SUV anyway. Of course she hadn't listened to her...why would she?

She reached for the handle again and quickly got inside, caring more that she'd probably just ruined her brand new pair of UGG boots than the fact that she was tracking mud all over the inside of Cassie's car. Screw her. She wasn't her girlfriend any more anyway and she certainly wasn't her friend. She'd said so herself.

She took a few moments to catch her breath before putting the key in the ignition and when she did the voice inside was warning her again. She easily reasoned it away. Sure she'd been drinking, but she could still function enough to deal with what she had to do. She started the engine but before shifting to reverse she adjusted the rear view mirror to back up the long driveway. Remembering how mean Cassie had been acting towards her all day she gritted her teeth and gunned the engine.

What they had together wasn't meaningful enough for her? She wanted to take some time to get to know each other better? Well this bitchy spoiled little girl was going to show her a side of her she might not have been aware of.

She put the car in reverse and floored the gas pedal in extreme exasperation. A sudden strong sense of uneasiness suddenly coursed through her like an intense rush of adrenaline when she saw the little girl standing in the middle of the driveway. She slammed on the brakes and heard the tires scream or maybe that was her own scream she heard when she turned the steering wheel sharply to the right to avoid hitting her and skidded off the driveway and crashed into a large oak tree.

The next thing she knew her door was being flung open and an arm was reaching across her body to turn the engine off. She grabbed a hold of it in desperation, wanting to ask if the little girl in the yellow rain coat was alright, but she lost consciousness before she could get the words out.

**A.N.** Sorry...couldn't resist a short teaser. I bet you can't guess what's finally coming next. But only if Faye forgives Cassie for being such a bitch to her. I'm not quite sure if she should at this point. Should she or shouldn't she. That is the question. lol Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, the next one will be much longer.


	27. Chapter 27

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 27

_How the hell did I end up in bed with Cassie? _was the first thing Faye thought when she opened her eyes and found herself lying on her back, pillows propped up behind her, and Cassie sitting closely next to her stroking her hair. It took her a few seconds to remember what had happened right before she passed out, and when she did, she blinked at the amount of concern in Cassie's eyes. The tender way she was caressing her almost making the lecture she was going to get for crashing her car worth it.

"Faye...Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere. What happened?" Cassie asked in a nervous rush of words as she pulled away from her and hastily shoved the object she had been holding to her temple back down into the front pocket on her flannel shirt.

Faye completely dismissed the tingling of magic across her skin and the dull throbbing in her head as a flash of memory of a little girl in a yellow rain jacket suddenly came to her. She was thinking of telling Cassie about the strange haunting intrusion from her past she had seen standing in the middle of the driveway when she looked around the room and saw that they weren't alone, Diana, Adam and Jake were hovering around the bed. She didn't want them to accuse her of having another drunken hallucination. Taking in everyone's anxious expressions and the fact that they were all staring at her as if she were on her death bed she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Oh for gods sake, I'm not dying. So quit looking at me like that."

"Thank God Faye," Diana said. "We were all so worried about you."

"Well you can all stop freaking out now, because I'm perfectly fine." She sat up a bit straighter and the room lurched a little so she lay her head back down on the pillows. Well maybe not perfectly fine. God why the hell hadn't she listened to Cassie she silently berated herself, hoping she would forgive her. And as she looked up at her again, an apology in her eyes and a trace of a smirk curving her mouth, Cassie sighed resignedly, a touch of a smile on her lips, and she knew it wasn't too late for them.

"I'm glad you're okay. But that was a pretty dumb thing to do."

"Adam," Diana said in a shocked tone, "leave Faye alone. She doesn't need you scolding her right now." For once Faye was in total agreement with her, bringing her hand up to wrap her finger around Cassie's long blonde hair, her smirk deepened. There was really only one thing she needed right now.

"And Cassie doesn't need her insurance rates going up," he replied.

"Didn't you just get your car back today from the body shop after the engine caught on fire?" Jake asked curiously. But her attention held captive by a pair of hazel-green eyes, Cassie wasn't really listening.

"That's right. And that was Faye's fault too."

"Stop it Adam," Diana said in a quiet but firm voice. "I'm sure Faye feels bad enough as it is. You don't have to bring up the past." She flashed a warm sincere smile in Cassie and Faye's direction but they were staring deeply into each others eyes. They look so cute together, she thought, I hope they make up soon. "Come on," she said ushering Jake and Adam from the room. "Cassie can take care of Faye. Let's all go back out to the parlor." They were almost to the doorway when Diana took Adam's hand. "Maybe we can entertain ourselves by playing a game of spin the bottle," she suggested and Adam groaned quietly.

"Only if it's _strip_ spin the bottle," Jake said, and when Adam turned around and glared a warning, he grinned slyly at him.

Even after all the tension filled banter between her and Faye during the truth or dare game, and how frantic she'd acted when Faye crashed her car, Cassie wasn't sure if Jake and Adam had figured out the truth beneath all the arguments and drama. So she waited until they left and the door was completely closed behind them before turning to Faye and telling her what was on her mind. There were so many things she wanted to say to her, she didn't even know where to begin. She tried to keep her anger in check but her thoughts and emotions were a complete jumble all centered around the idea that she could have lost her. She was still intensely upset at finding her unconscious in the drivers seat after wrapping the back end of her car around a tree. Part of her was relieved to see that she was relatively unharmed, but part of her wanted to throttle her for getting behind the wheel after drinking. Realizing what she really wanted to do was hug her, she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to let her go, so she refrained from doing so.

"Adam was right, that was a really stupid thing to do. Don't ever do that to me again Faye."

"So I guess you're pretty mad at me." Faye paused from playfully toying with Cassie's hair to let her hand fall back down to her side, her spirit sinking along with it. "Even though I don't know what I did to make you so upset."

Cassie looked at her with renewed concern, wondering if the slight bump on her head she'd gotten from the accident had made her forget. When she saw the hurt and accusing look in her eyes, somehow she didn't think so. "Faye I think we need to talk about what happened before."

"Why? It doesn't matter anyway. You don't care about me anymore."

"Of course I care," Cassie said shocked. "How can you even say that? I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Really?" Faye didn't seem too impressed by her heartfelt admission and after the way she'd been acting toward her Cassie couldn't really blame her. Her expression softening, she took a deep breath and summoned her nerve...she had a whole apology planned to beg for Faye's forgiveness.

"I'm sorry Faye...I know I've been acting like a complete jerk to you today...I don't really have any explanation for that except that ever since my crystal went missing, I've felt really out of sync with everything...I probably don't deserve it, but...can you forgive me?"

Faye thought for a long moment. She was still so very confused inside and wanted more than an apology from Cassie for what she had done. She needed proof that she trusted her as well as answers as to why she had been so dead set on ending things with her. Had she meant so little to her that she could throw away what they had together so easily?

"Faye, please talk to me. I'm so sorry for what I put you through. Please tell me you want me back."

"Do you love me Cassie?"

The question startled her, but she quickly regained her composure, not even having to think about it. "Yes."

"Are you sure?" Faye asked searching her eyes. "You're not just saying that to get into my pants?"

Cassie laughed a little at that until she realized Faye wasn't laughing along with her. In fact she wasn't even smiling and there was not a trace of a smirk on her face. "You're serious?" she asked and then somehow knowing she was, she said earnestly, "I'm not just saying that for any other reason Faye. I love you. Do you love me?"

"Yes, of course," Faye said as if that should have been a given, which made Cassie's heart flutter with anticipation of what might come next.

"Good because I really want to..." Her eyes widened and her lips were forming into a smile to ask Faye if she could kiss her when she interrupted her.

"It's not always about what you want Cassie," she said and hearing the seriousness in her tone, Cassie's smile faded. "I want you to do something for me."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, even though she had a pretty good idea what kind of activity might be on Faye's mind, because it was certainly on hers.

"Take off your clothes," she said and Cassie flinched a bit, realizing she was purposely making it sound more like a command than a request.

After a stunned moment she asked, "Why?"

"Because I asked you to." Faye looked determinedly into Cassie's eyes before adding, "And because if this relationship is going to work, you need to trust me."

Although fairly confused by her change in demeanor, Cassie surprised herself by how eager and willing she was to comply. But as she began stripping, her confusion increased when she stood at the side of the bed to unzip her jeans and realized Faye wasn't undressing, as much as watching her. "Aren't you going to get undressed?"

"Maybe."

Cassie frowned as she stepped out of her jeans and fumbled with the buttons on her flannel shirt. "Are you mad at me?"

"Just get undressed."

Faye's impassive gaze as she slipped off her shirt, folded it over and lay it on top of her jeans was a little daunting. Her eye's were following her every move and beginning to make her a bit nervous. She was getting the impression that Faye was trying to prove some kind of point and although she was a little leery of what that might be, she had said she needed to trust her and if that meant not losing her then whatever she wanted to do to her would be worth it.

Slowly pulling her tank top up to reveal her lacy bra and underpants, Cassie watched Faye biting at her bottom lip, the sensual movement fueling her desire. Whether it was intentional or not she wasn't sure. She tossed her shirt carelessly into the pile of clothing and when she was standing before her in nothing but her bra and underwear, she asked, "So..uh everything then?"

Faye raised a brow at her, looking at her expectantly.

Without shifting her gaze from hers, she undid her bra, let it drop to the floor and stepped out of her underwear.

As she stood naked leaning against the side of the bed, Faye took a breath to say something and then as if changing her mind, patted the blanket next to her and as Cassie was climbing onto the bed she reached for her hand. Their eyes met, and locked in Faye's stern gaze, Cassie tried not to laugh when she suddenly smirked at her.

"So what was the point you were trying to make?"

"Who care's anymore. That was fucking hot Cassie."

"Faye…"

"Oh come on don't try to deny that you didn't get a little turned on by that. I know I did."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "So am I forgiven then?" she asked hopefully as she tucked her legs under her, kneeling on the bed next to Faye.

"Not just yet."

"Oh come on Faye. I want to snuggle under the blanket with you. It's freakin' cold in this room."

"I know," Faye said staring down at her breasts. "I can tell."

Cassie scowled as she crossed her arms across her chest. "You're enjoying this entirely too much."

"Oh don't get all pouty. This won't take long. I just have a couple of questions."

"Why do I feel like I'm being punished," Cassie grumbled, and although Faye's lips twitched with a hint of a smile, she remained composed.

"You said what happened between us was all about your crystal. So why the sudden change of heart?" At the almost sheepish look that Cassie gave her it suddenly dawned on her. "You totally found it, didn't you?" she asked and Cassie nodded her head, still watching her closely. "Where?"

Cassie hesitated before answering; knowing the words she chose next could affect the future of their relationship. "Jake said he found it in my car and that he thinks it spilled out from your purse at some point during the accident." Before Faye could even comment Cassie looked over at the door again, saying in more of a hushed tone, "I don't believe him."

"So Jake took your crystal," Faye said, after an uncomfortably long silent staring session between them and Cassie thought about all the pain that one simple act had caused and narrowed her eyes with a short angry huff.

"And the fact that he made sure I got it back right after your accident, so I could use it to help heal you is the only thing keeping me from kicking his ass right now."

"So why do you think he took it, if he didn't plan on keeping it?" Faye asked and Cassie frowned. She'd been too worried about Faye to give it much thought until then.

"I'm sure he had his reasons."

"And none of them good," Faye replied.

Cassie thought about how emotionally unbalanced she had felt that day whenever Jake was near. All the anger, pain and passion that had been swirling around inside her because she had thought her girlfriend had betrayed her trust was like rocket fuel...which according to Jake was 'the key to accessing solo magic'. "I think he was manipulating me with the power from my crystal somehow," she said thinking out loud. If that was the case, he really did deserve an ass kicking she decided.

"I tried to warn you what a devious ass he is," Faye said, quietly, her tone sharp.

"I know," Cassie replied in a low soft voice. "And I should have listened to you." She shifted uncomfortably on the bed, Faye's expression showing very little sign that she was ready to accept her apology. If only she had hidden her crystal somewhere safer, she thought to herself. All the hurtful moments between her and Faye could have been avoided. She'd left herself open to that one, she realized. The only thing that was still puzzling her was when Jake would have had the opportunity to sneak into her room and search through her things. "What I can't figure out is when he took it. It had to have been sometime last night during the Halloween party. But I don't remember him ever going upstairs, let alone in my room, do you?"

Faye's brow rose and her eyes widened. "Is that where you were keeping it? In the secret compartment in your fireplace?"

Cassie blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought about the fact that since Faye didn't take it, she wouldn't have exactly known where she had been keeping it hidden. "No, in the top drawer of my nightstand," she said and this time it was Faye's turn to blink her surprise.

"Oh my god Cassie," she said with a hint of a grin. "You keep your crystal in the same drawer as your vibrator?"

Cassie smiled. Leave it to Faye to find humor in all of this. She could only imagine what she might say if she found out that was the reason why her small palm sized vibrator had ended up on the floor the night before when Diana surprised them and they thought it was a witch hunter sneaking into her house. If she knew she'd grabbed it to help protect them instead of her crystal, she'd never hear the end of it. "I won't be keeping it there anymore that's for sure," she said.

"Well I'm glad you got it back," Faye said, and Cassie could tell by the slight scowl on her face she wasn't going to like what came next, "but just because you're willing to take my side over Jake's now doesn't erase all the crap you put me through today. You really hurt me Cassie..."

"I realize that..." Cassie began but Faye cut her off.

"Let me finish," she said quietly but the amount of hurt and anger in the flash of her eyes actually made Cassie flinch. "You accused me of taking your crystal this morning without any proof. I told you and I kept telling you I didn't take it, but you didn't want to believe me, just because it was me telling you."

Cassie was about to say something in protest, but then she realized what Faye was saying was true. And why hadn't she believed her, she asked herself not for the first time that day? "You're right Faye," she admitted, suddenly unable to meet her eyes. "I'm such a bad girlfriend. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to get back together with me. I don't deserve you." Cassie sighed and bit her bottom lip and when she did so Faye made a sound of annoyance. At her huff of breath she looked up and found her studying her, with a slightly irritated look in her eyes.

"Oh don't be such a drama queen Cassie. We can work this out."

"So that's what you want too? To get back together?" she asked hopefully.

Faye raised her brow in thought. She wasn't really buying into Cassie's whole 'the crystal made me do it' explanation. She had to have realized what she was doing. She couldn't let Cassie get away with stomping all over her feelings like that, for whatever reasons. Their relationship should have been worth more to her than any fucking crystal, even though they were a pretty awesome source of power.

"I'd be totally cool with getting back together with you and continuing where we left off. But..." she said, casting Cassie a challenging stare. "...first I think you deserve a little payback for what you did to me."

"Payback?" Cassie watched distractedly as Faye reached back and released her hair from its ponytail and as she shook it out and worked her fingers through it she asked, "What kind of payback are we talking about?"

Faye smiled at her mischievously as she tilted her head to the side. "Oh I think you know Cassie."

As soon as she said that a sense of deja vu washed over her. "Does it involve kissing?" she asked smiling sweetly at her, but Faye wasn't moved.

"Hardly," she said chuckling under her breath. In the next instant Cassie found herself sprawled over her lap when she tugged her down. "_That's_ for being so mean to me," she said slapping her backside playfully. "And _that's_ for being stupid enough to let magic break us apart." And then she held her like that while Cassie tried to form the words to speak. It took a few moments, mostly because Faye's hand was already rubbing the slight sting away from her flesh.

"Wow Faye," she said with an awkward laugh and a smile. "I can't believe you just spanked me."

"Somebody needed to do it." Although she wasn't exactly in the position to look at her, Cassie could hear the smirk in her voice. "And who better than your girlfriend," she added.

"So...uh I guess that means you forgive me?" Cassie asked turning her body a little to look her in her eyes.

She was quiet for a moment and then she said, "Now that we're even. Yes, you're forgiven."

Cassie thought about that for a moment and then she frowned as she slowly sat up while watching Faye "I don't think we're quite even Faye," she said in feigned annoyance. "You wrecked my car. And if I didn't know any better, I'd think you did it on purpose." She watched with amusement as Faye's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open in disbelief.

"Gah!...And here I was thinking you'd learned your lesson about making wild ass accusations about me and we could pick things up in the bedroom where we left off. But I guess I was wrong." She heaved a sigh in heavy disappointment, but Cassie didn't miss the pout in her voice or the way the corners of her mouth twitched as if she were holding back a smile. Nor did she miss the sly seductive look in her eyes inviting her to make love to her.

"Can I kiss you Faye?" she asked tentatively, just to make sure she wasn't misinterpreting the situation. She didn't want to chance making any more assumptions that might hurt her.

Faye gave a quieter, but no less frustrated sigh. "I told you we would continue this where we left off, we're not going back to ground zero. So unless you want me to use the power of that magic crystal of yours to compel you to make love to me, I suggest you start..."

The rest of Faye's words were cut off by Cassie's lips as she leaned forward and kissed her. Faye closed her eyes and kissed her back softly, the both of them savoring the moment and their connection that stubbornly refused to be derailed even when their emotions took them on a roller-coaster ride.

**A.N.** Okay, so I hope this chapter explains a little better why Cassie was being so mean to Faye, even though I agree with Faye, it kind of sounded like a convenient excuse. Not sure yet where I should pick up with the next chapter. Do you think they need more make-up time or should I move on. Any suggestions?


	28. Chapter 28

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 28

After making up with each other Cassie and Faye were lost in their own private world, kissing passionately and frantically on the bed, when a loud crack of thunder brought them out of it. As she lay on top of Cassie, Faye broke their kiss and made a slight move to pull away from her, but Cassie's arm tightened around her waist and she had her other hand around the nape of her neck and she pulled her close to her again, nuzzling her neck and inhaling her scent.

"Mmmmm you smell so good, like sex and rain," she said her voice filled with desire, and Faye raised her brow.

"I think we need to stop...before we do anything more," she said breathing a little heavily from kissing heatedly for so long.

Cassie's eyes flicked to hers. "Why?"

"Well for one thing," she said, staring lustily at her breasts. "You're naked and I'm not." She smirked as her gaze shifted back to Cassie's eyes. "And there's the small matter of Adam or Jake possibly walking in on us."

"What about Diana?"

"She can join us," she replied. "I don't mind."

"Hey..." Cassie complained even though she knew Faye wasn't being serious. Just the idea of her girlfriend with someone else got her a little riled up. "Don't even joke about something like that." She pursed her lips out a bit in a slight pout, knowing that expression always got a response out of Faye and she really wanted to continue kissing her.

Faye dropped her gaze to her mouth and held it there for a long moment, her teeth worried at her bottom lip slightly before she said, "You're a really good kisser and I love making out with you. But I really need you right now."

At her seductive tone a shiver of excitement ran through Cassie's body. She was equally as aroused and hungry for pleasure as Faye was. Wanting to make a gesture to try to make up for all the pain she'd caused her, she said, "Then let me make you come." And thrusting her hips out, she pressed her thigh more firmly against Faye's center before adding with a lust filled smile, "Any way you want."

Faye tilted her head in thought for a moment and smirked a little, before asking softly, "Can you finish what you started before?" At her look of confusion Faye elaborated. "When you had me pinned to the floor? I like that side of you. You're very sexy when you're being all dominant." Faye's smirk deepened when Cassie blushed what was probably a pretty deep shade of pink, and before she had even agreed Faye sat up and pulled her shirt over her head.

If she wasn't so turned on herself, Cassie would have laughed at the speed that Faye was removing her clothing. Without any more hesitation she got up off the bed to lock the door, and as she was crossing the room she grinned a little at the sight of Faye's bra flying across the room. But when after locking the door, she turned back around and saw how alluring Faye looked lying on the bed with her arms draped above her head in a provocative pose any traces of amusement disappeared. She swallowed hard at the amount of desire and trust in her eyes and her heart lurched guiltily as she once again reflected on the day. She'd been such a jerk to her, she really didn't deserve her forgiveness, but yet she'd given it so easily. Leaning against the side of the bed Cassie licked her lips sensually as she swept her gaze over Faye's body, letting it linger on her breasts before locking back on her eyes. She really was lucky she realized, lucky to not only have her as a girlfriend, but as a friend.

"Don't tell me you're all talk and no action," Faye said, breaking the spell she had her under. "Because from the look on your face, you're about to change your mind. And that would just be cruel."

Knowing her words were spoken only half in jest Cassie smiled a bit as she got into bed with Faye. Kneeling next to her and holding her gaze, she took her hands in hers, bringing her arms back down to her sides before telling her, "Just relax...Let me show you how sorry I am for hurting you."

She took a moment to kiss her smirk away, they kissed softly at first and then with more passion when she touched her cheek. But knowing Faye wanted more than kisses from her she moved her hand downwards and cupped her breast, caressing her in a way that let her know she was ready to take control.

She kissed Faye deeply swirling her tongue around hers as she spread her legs apart, wedging a knee in between hers and then another. Their bodies pressed against each other, she continued to kiss her as she caressed her, trying to express the feelings she had for her with all of the sensations she was giving her. Slowly running her hand all the way up to her shoulder and then back again, she pulled her mouth away from hers, and resting her fingertips on the curve of her stomach she leaned down and kissed the top of her breasts. She lingered there a short while to take in the sweet fragrance of her skin and then trailing kisses down the center of her chest she stopped just above her belly button and looked up to see her watching her. When Faye caught her eye she tucked her lip under her teeth. Damn, that one look always made her so fucking hot, she nearly forgot what she was doing. Putting her own needs on hold while she met hers, she forced herself to turn her attention away.

Running her hands slowly up over Faye's body to the curve of her breasts, she caressed her soft skin, brushing her thumbs along the edge of her nipples. And then sliding her fingers across them she stroked her taut nubs teasingly with her palm for a few moments, before sliding her hands back up her body while running the tip of her tongue all the way up to her neck.

Shifting her weight to the side, she started kissing, sucking and licking her neck. From her soft moans of pleasure Faye seemed to be enjoying what she was doing, so she continued to kiss and lick her way back down her body, stopping at one of her breasts. Using her tongue, she traced circles around her hardened nipple, and when she flicked her tongue out and licked it Faye squirmed underneath her and moaned again. Using her free hand to work her other nipple she kept licking and rubbing her until she heard Faye moan louder and when she did, she lifted her head to meet her lust filled gaze.

She knew what she was asking with her eyes, and wanting to taste her soft full lips again, she moved up her body. Laying partially on top of her, with her hair dangling down by her face, she licked her lips before slowly leaning down to kiss her. Lowering her breasts against hers until they touched, they kissed long and deeply, their tongues exploring each others mouths and becoming a little frantic with the building passion as they ground their hips together.

They kissed like that for a while and then Cassie shifted her weight on top of Faye to slide her hand down her stomach and between her legs. She pressed her mound with her palm and when Faye opened her legs even more she ran her fingers over her clit and down her moist lips and back again for a few long moments before sending a small pulse of magic through her fingertips to her center, just the way she knew she liked it. When Faye made a low growling sound in her throat, Cassie smiled knowingly and broke the kiss to shift her position.

She straddled Faye's right thigh and bringing her own thigh up she began pushing and rubbing it against Faye's center, moving her hips in a rocking motion and eliciting soft moans of pleasure from her, and as the rhythm quickened Faye met her thrust for thrust.

"Does that feel good?" she whispered near her ear as she continued her thrusting motions while rubbing her own breasts against Faye's hardened nipples.

"Hmm..."

"So you want me to stop," she said even though she had no intention of stopping until Faye came.

"Hmmm...Please...don't stop," Faye begged her and Cassie continued to rock her hips forward driving her thigh into Faye's mound with each thrust and rubbing it up and down against her center. "Hmm...Do it harder..." she said breathlessly, and Cassie pushed her thigh a little harder into her. "Ahh...like that but faster," she said and when she did Faye slid her hands down over her backside and pulled her closer to her. Cassie smiled with faint amusement at how the roles seemed to be reversing.

"Ahhh...Cassie. Make me come," Faye said between moans and Cassie happily obliged her until she felt her shuddering and shaking underneath her with all the pleasure she was giving her.

A few minutes later Faye was back on top returning the favor. But as she was doing so, Cassie could tell that she seemed distant and that her mind was on other things...which was unusual. Faye had never been distant with her before, at least not while they were like this.

Faye was lying on top of Cassie, hands running across the front of her body, kissing and teasing her nipples to hardness. "So anyway, I can't explain it. All I know is that little girl I saw in the driveway is me."

Cassie bit her lip and arched her hips up against Faye's stomach while listening to her explain what had happened moments before crashing her car. She was trying very hard to pay attention or to at least keep her moaning to a minimum, but already worked up from kissing, touching and exploring Faye's body without release, she was so aroused she was ready to explode. Not knowing that Faye was expecting a verbal response from her, a not so pleasurable, flick of her finger to her taut nipple instantly got her attention. "Ff …Faye...That's not possible."

"I get that." Shifting her weight on top of her, Faye brought her knee up and lightly rubbed her skin teasingly up and down across her mound a few times before sliding her hand down her stomach.

A low moan escaped Cassie's lips as Faye ran her fingers all over the most sensitive part of her body, while her other hand continued to play with her nipple.

"But I remember the last time I wore that exact outfit…those boots…that raincoat. I was six…"

_"Yes Faye,"_ Cassie mentally urged her to continue, _"Play with my sex...finger me...you know what I like..."_ but even mentally conversing with herself was difficult with all the pleasurable feelings Faye was giving her.

Cassie squirmed with delight when as if reading her mind, Faye slid a finger inside of her warm wetness, moving it in and out of her while she massaged her clit with her thumb. "I was here for the summer."

"Hmmm..." she moaned when Faye added another finger increasing the pleasure even more, just how she knew she liked it.

"I wandered out down by the lake by myself."

"Hmmm...Naughty Faye...what a bad little girl you are..."

"What?" When Faye's fingers stopped half way inside her, Cassie let out a quiet groan of frustration, realizing she'd uttered that thought out loud.

"Uh...Faye it wasn't you that you saw," she quickly reiterated, not having paid enough attention to follow Faye's train of thought. "It was dark and late." Cassie shivered and bucked her hips slightly when Faye resumed her motions. "It's been a weird nn-night..." she said clutching the bedsheets, gripping them tightly as Faye curled her fingers and hit the special spot.

"I was throwing rocks into the lake."

As she lay half under Faye, writhing in the throes of passion, the thought very briefly crossed Cassie's mind that the memory she was reliving was somewhat upsetting to her and that she should probably make her stop what she was doing to her so they could talk about it without any distractions, but all she could think about was Faye inside her. She needed a release and she needed Faye to give her what she wanted. She could feel her orgasm building to a peak as Faye continued to play with her clit and finger fuck her, she'd been so wet and hot for her she wasn't surprised to feel herself coming so quickly.

"And I walked out on the dock so I could throw them even further and I was standing right up to the edge."

Lost in a sea of arousal and lust Cassie whimpered softly, "Ahh...Ff-Faye..." as her body tensed, when on the verge of coming Faye thrust deeply into her, while swirling her thumb over her clit.

"I reached back and threw one as hard as I could, and then suddenly I was under water and I couldn't breathe."

Cassie's breath caught in her throat and her inner muscles clenched around Faye's fingers as she moved them in and out and stroked her clit at a faster pace. Her whole body began to shake wildly as she came in waves of intense pleasure.

"And I remember trying to scream and water rushing into my lungs."

"Ff...Faye..." Her breath ragged and unsteady, Cassie arched her back and locked her eyes onto Faye's as aftershock upon aftershock wracked her body.

"I could feel my whole body shutting down and I remember the panic. I was so scared..."

"Faye please stop...stop...stop." An uncontrollable shiver swept through her and she reached down to keep Faye's hand from moving, but distracted with her thoughts she continued to pump her fingers in and out of her and rub her highly stimulated clit, until the last trembling spasm of pleasure went through her.

"And then there was a hand on my arm. And I was yanked up and thrown onto the dock. It was my grandfather. He saved my life."

As her spasms subsided, Cassie watched with a fair amount of distraction of her own as a look of realization slowly spread across Faye's face, replacing the odd look of preoccupation mixed with deep emotion.

"That girl is here for a reason."

Lying half under Faye, basking in the glow of all the pleasure she had given her Cassie was reaching up to hug her when she slipped her fingers from her, rolled over and got up off the bed. _What? No snuggle time?_ she thought to herself as she watched Faye gathering her clothing that she'd previously thrown haphazardly around the bed. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go find her," Faye said as she stepped into her underwear and reached for her bra.

Cassie sat up, confused and disappointed. Faye knew she liked to be kissed and cuddled after sex. Why was she being so distant? "Find who?" she asked, trying to keep the pout out of her voice.

Faye paused with her bra half on, taking a moment to glare at Cassie. "The little girl," she replied, sounding annoyed. "Have you not been listening to a word I've been saying?"

Cassie grinned sheepishly and jokingly said, "It was a little difficult to pay attention while I was in the middle of a...well...you know."

Unamused, Faye rolled her eyes, before hooking the front clasp on her bra. "It's called an orgasm Cassie. I don't know what the deal is with you and why you can't say it without blushing."

Cassie frowned. "And what's the deal with you and that little girl?" she said defensively. "You were drunk Faye, it was probably just a..."

"Don't even say it," Faye said interrupting her. "I know everyone else thinks I was hallucinating..." She threw her arm out in frustration. "...or lying about what I saw in the bathtub, which is why I didn't mention the...apparition or whatever it was I saw in the driveway to them. But I thought you at least..." She looked away in disappointment. "...never mind. You don't have to believe me, it doesn't matter."

Cassie sighed, knowing very well that it did matter. She should have been more understanding instead of lashing out at her like that. "I'm sorry Faye," she said suddenly not wanting to argue with her anymore. They'd already had enough arguments that day. "If you say all of that really happened to you then I believe you." When Faye met her eyes she gave her a rueful smile. "Weirder things have been going on in our lives lately."

"I said you don't have to believe me Cassie," Faye said, quickly glancing away to pull her shirt over her head. "I know what I saw. And I don't care if you all think I'm crazy. I need to go find her."

"Now?" Cassie asked Faye's words snapping her more completely out of her after sex haze. And as Faye ignored her and continued to get dressed she said coaxingly, "Come on Faye, come back to bed. It's a dark and stormy night and weird supernatural things are happening to you. You've seen what happens in movies. Now's not the time to go traipsing off into the woods alone." She smiled to let Faye know she was joking even though she was facing the door and had her back to her.

"Well I'm not afraid of supernatural 'things'," Faye said slipping her feet into her boots. "I'm not even sure if that's what I've been seeing."

Knowing how stubborn Faye could be when she got an idea in her head, Cassie got out of bed and started to dress. "All right then. I'm coming with you." She was pulling her shirt over her head when she heard the door open. "Faye wait! I said I was coming with you!" At the sound of the door slamming, Cassie tugged her shirt down over her head and stood there in shock. She couldn't believe Faye had left like that.

"What the fuck Faye," she said as she grabbed her jeans and flannel shirt and headed for the door.

Cassie was hastily making her way down the hallway, while struggling to put her jeans on when the bathroom door opened. She was caught off guard and she jumped. "Oh my god Adam, you scared me," she said pulling her jeans up over her hips. He looked at her oddly and then he looked away until she finished zipping and snapping her jeans.

"So is Faye okay?" he asked and seeing that she had dropped her flannel shirt, he picked it up and handed it to her.

"Yes..." _Or at least I hope so._.. "Look, I'm kind of in a hurry Adam." She took her shirt from him and started edging around him. "Thanks," she said and then she all but ran down the hallway. She heard Adam murmur something that sounded like the stars have fallen, but it didn't make sense and she was in too much of a hurry to ask him about it.

"Anyone want some popcorn?" Cassie heard Diana ask as she was heading towards the parlor.

"None for me thanks," Jake said. "But while you're out in the kitchen can you bring me back a beer and a bowl of cheeseballs?"

"Spoken like a true guy," Diana muttered half under her breath and then she caught Cassie's eye as she passed through the parlor. "Cassie...What's wrong with Faye? I tried talking to her but she seemed really preoccupied. She said something about going to find herself. Is something the matter?"

"Yeah...And was that a hickey on her neck?" Jake asked with a smirk as he sat sprawled across the couch.

"What the hell's going on with you two?" Adam said coming up behind her. "Did she storm out of here again? She better not have taken my jeep."

Where the hell was Faye even going anyway? Cassie wondered. In search of some ghostly apparition...a younger version of herself who drowned in the lake? The more she thought about it, the more worried she got.

"Oh fuck!" she said and without another thought or word she ran for the front door...

**A.N.** Please don't flame me for the shameless (and poorly written) smut between Cassie and Faye, but it is twenty-seven chapters into the story. And besides, I think they deserved a little one on one action after the bad day they've been having. Yes they're back together again, although Faye might still be a little upset with Cassie since she didn't even give her any after sex snuggles. lol. So anyway just to let you know, I'll be skipping the whole scene with the dead body popping up and maybe resume directly after that, or the next day. Poor Faye. She's going to need some heavy consoling now.


	29. Chapter 29

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 29

Although she didn't have it near her, it was well over two hours later that Cassie's phone vibrated with a text message from Dawn Chamberlain saying she had just entered the city limits of Pine Lake and would be there as soon as possible...Yes a couple of mysteries that had been plaguing Faye since her arrival at her grandfather's lake house had been resolved...but not in a good way. Adam was handling the situation with the police until her mother arrived, but with the stormy weather it was taking her more than the normal driving time to cover the distance to reach her destination.

After the overwhelming and exhaustingly horrific night she'd experienced Cassie had wanted to be there for her girlfriend to comfort and console her, and she had for the most part, but it was obvious to her that Faye had wanted the solace of her mother's arms around her even though from what she had told her in the past, she had never been that sort of mother to her. Of course that hadn't stopped Cassie from wholeheartedly giving her own form of security by offering her gentle and sincere words and a warm touch. She had stayed with her as she quietly cried on her shoulder while they lay closely next to each other on her bed, trying just to be there for her. Evidently it was enough to soothe her frayed nerves and grieving heart to allow her to succumb to exhaustion...and only after ensuring Faye was sleeping peacefully at her side did Cassie finally allow her own mind and body to drift into a semi conscious slumber...

_Cassie was sleeping...but not very deeply...her mind was in a half sleeping and half dreaming state. In her extremely vivid but unfortunately only somewhat lucid dream, she was having a great time at one of her favorite beaches in California playing in the surf with her boogie board. She was skidding along recklessly at break neck speed on the verge of a major wipe out, but instead of falling, in the next instant she was splashing through the tide pools picking up broken pieces of her crystal as she uncovered them in the sand. When she found the last piece, she held them in the palm of her hand and began putting her crystal back together like a puzzle. _

_Once it was whole again she was kneeling on the soft sand holding it up to the sky, watching the color change from black to white and marveling at how it was catching the light in an almost ethereal way when it was suddenly snatched from her grasp. Even before she looked up and saw Faye she had a sense of who had taken it and that she'd done it in a playful way, mostly because she'd heard her taunting laugh. Wanting her girlfriend to know that she trusted her because she knew she loved her and would never do anything to hurt her she smiled sweetly and started to walk towards her when she spotted her running away from her, streaking towards the surf in her birthday suit._

_"Faye! Give me back my crystal!" she called out, willing her to hear her voice over the howl of the wind and roar of the ocean. And then, as if their connection came through, Faye turned around, running backwards in the sand, wearing nothing but the sexy witch doctor costume and a familiar smirk. Without her even having to say the words Cassie knew exactly what she was thinking._

_"You can have it back...but you have to catch me first!" she heard in her mind, and seeing a certain look in Faye's eyes that clearly promised a whole lot more than her crystal as a prize for the game they were playing, Cassie took off running. _

_After what seemed like a very long time where the distance between them either grew or frustratingly remained the same, she finally caught up with her elusive girlfriend and grabbed her from behind just at the water's edge, wrapping her arms around her waist in a tight hug. Faye squirmed and twisted to try to break free and as she did so she spun them both around and they fell in a tangle of limbs, laughing and smiling the whole time._

_"I win," Cassie thought more than said as she lay on top of Faye _struggling to catch her breath, and then she relaxed when she heard her response as if it had been whispered in her ear._  
><em>

_"But only because I let you win." Locking her eyes on hers Faye dropped the crystal and pulled Cassie closer to her, their bikini clad bodies touching and their lips mere inches apart._

_"So what's my prize?" Cassie asked too enraptured to have the scene play out to even care that a rather large white and black pot bellied pig with troublesome blue eyes was digging her crystal up out of the sand with its snout, tossing it up in the air, catching it in its mouth and casually sauntering off with it.  
><em>

_"Oh I think you know," Faye replied in a sing-song voice and Cassie's gaze drifted to her soft full lips at the prospect of an all consuming kiss. With the strangely intangible but no less potent feeling of butterflies tickling her stomach she was about to lean in to collect her reward when she heard a loud rumbling noise. On the verge of wakening, Cassie wanted nothing more than to block out the persistent and unwanted intrusion into her dream so she turned quickly to determine its source.  
><em>

_Disappointment weighing down her heart she was unconcerned about the impending danger of the tide rushing up and over them with an unusual force or was she all that worried for her own safety when in the next moment she found herself alone and treading water. However, unlike her crystal, Faye was gone but not forgotten and she immediately dove under the surface to attempt to save her only to find that the water was too thick with seaweed to see anything. The dream-induced panic making her heart thump faster, she felt a hand touching her thigh and frantically grabbed onto it and pulled Faye up to the waters surface where she placed her arm around her across her chest and swam towards her green SUV that she couldn't see but somehow had a feeling was floating nearby._

_In the blink of an eye the sky turned black as night and she was no longer swimming, but kneeling on the hood of her car. Knowing exactly what she needed to do she reached down and dipped her hands in the water in front of her and, drawing on her emotions, sent the energy from her powers through her body and to her magic fingers to try to save Faye from the mysterious dark depths below. As the water began to bubble and stir she raised her hands while pulling strongly on her magic, knowing she needed to act fast if there was any chance of rescuing her. She was just getting the sense that there was a dark form rising up from beneath when there was a bright flash of light as the headlights that were half immersed underwater flashed on like a spotlight. Unable to scream or move, she heard her name being whispered in her ear as the horrifying image of Henry Chamberlain's bloated body floating to the surface suddenly invaded her dreams.  
><em>

_"That's my grandfather." _

_There was another loud rumbling as she stood up, whirled around and started to hold her arms out for Faye, but there was no one there...  
><em>

Cassie woke up with a start and lay perfectly still in the dark, until she heard the sound of peaceful breathing, and as the events of the evening came flooding back to her it took all her will power not to reach out to stroke Faye's hair as she lay sleeping next to her. Even though she knew her mother would soon be arriving on the scene to identify her father-in-laws body and take her daughter home, she didn't want to wake her. Not that she would wake up with that minor of a disturbance she decided, but still she didn't want to take the chance.

Unsure what had jolted her out of her dream and into an awakening state, Cassie tried to figure out what the noise was that she'd just heard. At first she couldn't see or hear anything, but after a few moments the room brightened a little with a quick flash of lightening and she easily concluded that it was the storm that had awoken her. She waited, counting the seconds that passed before the thunder came rumbling in the distance. She had counted to fourteen when she finally heard it. About a minute later there was another flash and she counted again. Twenty-two seconds later the thunder boomed, telling her the storm was passing. Sighing deeply she lay there thinking about all that had happened. A sadness filled her as a memory came to the forefront of her mind of Faye struggling to hold her sobs in while she was in front of the others on the dock, but then breaking down at what she had seen and the realization of all that she had lost once they were alone in her room. Yes the storm was over in Pine Lake, but in its wake it had left tragedy behind...the ominous feeling she had awoken with the morning before had once again proven true.

As the image of Faye's grandfather's lifeless body came to the surface, Cassie shifted a little uncomfortably on the bed and when she did there was a muffled thud nearby. She stiffened briefly but then relaxed when she realized what it was..._Henry_. A soft smile fell upon her lips as she thought of how tightly Faye had been clutching the old and well worn teddy bear in her arms before she fell asleep. Any other time she might have been a little hurt that she had chosen to hold a stuffed toy to help comfort her, rather than her girlfriend. But knowing the bear was a gift Faye's grandfather had given her on her birthday when she turned six it was totally understandable.

Wanting to ensure that when Faye awoke her bear would be within reaching distance, she got up and walked quietly around to the other side of the bed to find it, which she did almost immediately when her toes collided with it and sent it skidding further away from her under the bed. Cursing silently in the darkness of morning, she knelt down and reached out to feel for it but besides several dust bunnies she couldn't seem to reach it. She moved a little further towards the head of the bed and reached out again and was a little startled when her hand came into contact with something a lot more solid than a stuffed animal.

Without a moments hesitation she grabbed a hold of it and gently slid it out from under the bed. She sat there in the dark holding the small wooden box in her lap trying to decide if she should give in to her curiosity. An unseen force seemed to be compelling her to stop but she disregarded the feeling and opened the lid. It was too dark to see what was inside so she scooted backwards along the floor a little until she was sitting directly under the window. She waited for the next flash of lightning to get a clue what either Faye or her grandfather had been hiding under her bed at his lake house. She didn't have to wait long. There was another flash of lighting, giving her a quick glimpse of a small sized sachet laying on top of a photograph. Even though the image was partially obscured Cassie recognized the person in the photo instantly, of course why wouldn't she. It was a picture of the little girl Faye had seen in the driveway and then later followed down to the lake, the same magical apparition that had lured Cassie towards the edge of the dock, wearing a yellow rain jacket and red boots.

It was hard to believe it was possible, that her grandfather had used Faye's old memories of herself when she was six to reach out to her. Jake had explained to her that a witches energy could remain for an undetermined period of time after their death, and being an elder his magic must have been pretty powerful. Even though she couldn't see it in the dark, Cassie stared down at the photograph in wonderment. It had almost felt like she was linked with the little girl somehow, which like Faye had tried to tell her, was a younger version of herself. But if it was meant for Faye, why had she seen the apparition too, she asked herself? The only conclusion she could draw was that she was so connected to Faye, that the traumatic memory of the time her grandfather had saved her from drowning had called out to her as well and compelled her to reach her hands into the water. She had known exactly what to do, as if the little girl had somehow communicated with her telepathically.

_Love is powerful magic,_ she thought with a smile as she looked over towards the shadowy form of Faye lying on the bed. Thinking Faye's grandfather might possibly have placed some kind of protection spell on the small satchel in the box, which was bound to Faye's photograph with a short length of string, she closed the lid over and scooted back towards the bed. She was laying on her stomach, reaching out to return the box to the exact location where she had found it when she heard the bedroom door opening. The light from the hallway illuminated the room enough to help her locate Faye's teddy bear so she pulled it out from under the bed. When she sat up, she brushed off a couple of stray dust bunnies from Henry's denim jacket before turning to find Dawn standing in the doorway.

Cassie noticed an odd look etched into her features as she gazed across the room at her daughters sleeping form on the bed, like she was experiencing pangs of guilt or remorse. Thinking it a little odd, she stood up immediately, and the second Dawn caught sight of her, the look changed and became guarded. A chill came over her as she slowly crossed the room and approached her girlfriend's mother. _Why do I always get a creepy feeling whenever I see her, _she wondered?

"So you were the one who found...Henry's body? Not Faye?" Dawn asked, her demeanor grim and Cassie nodded. "The police were asking for your statement." It was easy to see the amount of concern in her eyes when she looked over at her daughter, but Cassie didn't miss the way Dawn stiffened when she glanced down at the teddy bear she was holding in her hands. "How is she doing?"

"Fine I guess, considering..." Cassie replied. She was about to say considering it was obvious someone had murdered him and tried to hide his body, but thought better of it when she heard the rustling of covers behind her.

"Mommy?" Cassie whirled around to see Faye sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

As Dawn brushed by her to rush to her daughter's side, her hip grazed against the teddy bear in her hand and sparks of electricity shot all the way up her arm. Feeling a strange surge of energy enter her magic crystal which she had forgotten she was still carrying around with her in the front pocket on her flannel shirt, Cassie flinched a bit when the the force of it stung her chest a little. Startled to the point of distraction she glanced briefly down at Henry and then over at Dawn as she wrapped her arms around her daughter in a tight embrace. Dawn looked up and their eyes met over Faye's shoulder, before she tactfully shifted her glance away.

"He's...gone..."

Cassie's heart broke at the pain and anguish in Faye's voice, but she couldn't get that look Dawn had given her out of her mind. It was cold and calculating yet full of suppressed fear. But fear of what, she couldn't help but wonder? And then all coherent thoughts flew from her brain when she heard deep spasms of grief rack Faye's soul. Cassie gripped the bear tightly in her arms as one all consuming thought began to overshadow her mind...

Whoever was the cause of her girlfriends pain was going to fucking pay, big time!

"I'm so sorry Faye..." Dawn whispered softly, consolingly and wondering why she was apologizing Cassie frowned slightly in puzzlement.

"Who would want to hurt my grandpa?" were the last word's she heard Faye utter through her heart-wrenching sobs as she turned to leave.

Yes, they would suffer dearly for what they did...she would make sure of it! Cassie thought to herself. And Henry, Faye's forgotten, but no less loved teddy bear in hand, she headed down the hallway and into the next room, where the police were waiting to collect her statement concerning the mystery lying beneath her grandfather's murder.

**A.N.** So yeah I might have lost my way but this story is not forgotten, I hope you'll bear with me (no pun intended) while I get a grasp on the exact point where Faye and Cassie's journey will continue back in Chance Harbor.


	30. Chapter 30

**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

What Lies Beneath

Chapter 30

It was early Thursday morning and Cassie was staring into the refrigerator but not finding anything she was looking for. She had wanted to eat some cereal for breakfast, but there was no milk. There wasn't even any orange juice. Her grandmother had forgotten to go grocery shopping...again. She knew she had been having a stressful couple of weeks and that it was unusual for her to be so forgetful, but the weird thing was that she was getting used to it.

Cassie closed the refrigerator door and put her glass and bowl she'd previously gotten out back in the cabinet while thinking back on when it had all started...a week ago, the morning after she returned from Faye's grandfather's lake house. She had been showing her grandmother the old parchment that Calvin, the antique shop owner had left for her in the hope that she might know what it meant, but after studying it closely she had claimed that it wasn't familiar to her and that she didn't recognize any of the symbols. Cassie had been shocked when she had gone on to say that she would check with Henry Chamberlain to see if he knew anything about it. How in the world could she have forgotten he was dead? Her grandmother had tried to explain away her lapse of memory and told her not to worry and she hadn't, at least not until that same night at the gala after the second time she'd mistakenly called her 'Amelia'.

So of course she was worried. She was worried that her absent minded behavior wasn't merely a matter of being over stressed at work but that her grandmother was going through the first stages of memory loss. God she hoped not, she thought, as she opened up the pantry door and grabbed the first thing she saw...a bag of crackers. She didn't really want them, but it was all she could find to eat. She shoved them into her backpack and looked around the kitchen, at the empty fruit bowl on the center island and the stack of unopened mail and unread newspapers on the counter by the phone. She missed the way her grandmother used to be, and not just because the fridge was always stocked or that she would have her lunch packed up for her before school.

Trying not to get too upset over something she had no control over, Cassie sighed, remembering all the small things about her grandmother that she had taken for granted, yet grown to love and expect from her. She missed the way she used to sing softly to herself whenever she was cooking in the kitchen, and the way she would laugh good-naturedly and say 'nothing good ever comes after midnight' when she complained about her curfew, or the fact that even though she made a point to check in with her she would always wait up for her to make sure she got home safely. She would have been grounded for sure if she had been awake and caught her coming home past her curfew last night, so maybe not so much the waiting up part, she thought with only somewhat of a guilty conscience. She just wanted her the way she was before she went off to visit her friend in Pine Lake. It seemed like a lot of things were different now...ever since that day.

And then, thinking how some things never change, Cassie shook off her nostalgic mood and, a moment later, grinned ever so slightly as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the door. Without reliable transportation of her own, due to a certain raven haired witch's drunken transgression, she had a long walk ahead of her. Yes...she was finding a way to make do without her trusty SUV or a loaner car from the auto body repair shop...although she wasn't planning on walking the entire distance to school.

She still wasn't clear on whether Faye had crashed her car on purpose as a means to get them back together or if she'd had any ulterior motives when she'd gotten behind the wheel that night at the lake house. When she had questioned her about it a few days later, she had said she was just really angry and that she didn't have any kind of intention to damage her car when she took it, but the smirk on her face had suggested otherwise. Cassie didn't know what to believe, but either way she was glad that Faye's injuries weren't worse and easily healable with the help of her crystal and that they had been able to work through their issues and mend their relationship as well. They may have jumped the gun a bit at first and skipped ahead to the making up part before their problems were fully resolved, but since then they were building trust along with their friendship. Things between them were all good again.

Cassie's brow creased with worry. Although sometimes she wondered if everything was really okay with Faye. Especially after the weird way she'd been acting since the night of the Maritime Fundraiser Gala. As the remaining members of the Circle stood on the burning dock watching the witch-hunters boat pull away, she explained to everyone what Jake had told her about her family tree and the dark lineage she came from. When she'd relayed the information that she was a descendant of Balcoin and that having that bloodline made her a target Faye had gone unusually quiet...and a quiet Faye was never a good thing...

Lost in her thoughts Cassie didn't notice said witch coming up the walkway as she locked the front door behind her.

"God Faye! You shouldn't sneak up on me like that," she said after she turned around and stopped just short of colliding into her.

"God Cassie," Faye countered in a mocking tone. "You shouldn't be so oblivious to your surroundings."

Cassie frowned. Not much in the mood that morning for her girlfriend's sarcasm or her over protectiveness. "Are you here to give me a ride to school? Because if that's the case I don't remember asking for one," she said, sounding way brattier than she had intended.

"I know. I was waiting for you to text me. Why didn't you?"

"Because..." Cassie sighed. "I didn't want a ride. It's barely over three miles, I was planning on walking."

"Really?" Cassie managed to keep a nonchalant look on her face, until Faye's eyes flashed with irritation. "You were totally planning on hitchhiking again weren't you?"

Knowing it would be useless to do so Cassie didn't deny it, instead, she huffed in minor exasperation at her girlfriends uncanny ability to figure out what was in her head, even when she was trying to be evasive, just by looking into her eyes. "Look Faye," she began in defense, "we've already been through this. The witch hunters are gone. No one's planning on kidnapping me. Chance Harbor is back to being the safe and quaint little seaside town it used to be. There's nothing wrong with me occasionally thumbing a ride to school. I'm perfectly capable of not only judging someone's character, but getting out of sticky situations if I need to. After all, I'm a full blooded witch with strong dark magic inside me that I can use to kill anyone who tries to inflict harm on me." She smiled her most innocent smile and batted her eyes, thinking maybe she could manipulate her girlfriend's emotions and charm her way out of a lecture with cuteness and humor. No such luck, she thought when Faye narrowed her eyes at her.

"You think this is funny?"

"Uh...no," Cassie said, secretly thinking it kind of actually was considering how powerful she was, and that was as far as she got. Faye took hold of her arm and steered her down the walkway, talking to her in a quiet, but scolding tone the whole way to her car.

"First of all, we don't know for sure the witch hunters aren't coming back. How do you know they aren't regrouping and laying low until the time is right?" She paused to shut the gate behind them before adding what Cassie hoped was her final thought on the matter. "Such as when a certain arrogant and extremely stubborn witch decides not to listen to her girlfriend's wise and well thought out advice."

Cassie climbed into the front passenger seat when Faye opened the door for her and then cringed a little when she slammed it shut after she'd barely had the chance to pull her backpack inside. Wow she was really mad. She hadn't meant to piss her off like that. But it wasn't the first time she'd done so and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. She watched Faye closely as she got behind the wheel and closed her door so hard the windows rattled. She put the key in the ignition but didn't start the engine right away. She sat there thinking just as Cassie was.

Even though she didn't much like the way, ever since the night of the charity ball, Faye was being so unnecessarily overprotective of her, she knew she was right. The witch hunters could come back at anytime and most likely that time would be when they least expected it. "You're right Faye," she said noticing the way she was holding her hands tightly on the steering wheel. "I should have called and asked you for a ride. Please don't be mad at me."

When Faye turned to look at her, Cassie wasn't sure but she thought she saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Well I _am_ mad at you," she said and then she looked away, staring straight ahead in silence for a few long moments. "I don't understand why you won't listen to me." She let her hands drop to her lap before she turned to look at her again. She had been on the verge of tears and Cassie could see now they were tears of frustration. "They already tried to kill you once, what makes you think they won't try it again?"

"I don't know," Cassie said contritely, although what she really wanted to tell Faye was that she could handle the witch hunters, just like she had before.

"And you say you're capable of judging someone's character Cassie? Then how come you didn't figure out that Jake kills witches for a living? He was working with the witch hunters all along. If he hadn't turned against them things would have ended a lot differently that night. They kidnapped you, they had you on their boat and you were unconscious...helpless and unable to defend yourself. Who knows what they could have done, what they had in store for you. If they took you away, if they had left with you that night, I might never have seen you again and..."

Cassie reached for Faye's hand and placed it gently in her lap when she paused to swallow in an obvious attempt to still the quiver in her voice. "Don't think about it anymore Faye," she said as she intertwined their fingers. "You shouldn't dwell on things like that, because you don't know what might have happened...nobody does. I'm not sure what made Jake suddenly grow a conscious, but the fact of the matter is he did. He gave enough warning so that you and Adam were able to work with him and save me. I'm sorry if my stubbornness irritates you. And if that's what will make you happy, I promise I won't hitchhike anymore..." Cassie smiled and squeezed Faye's hand, before trying to lighten the mood between them by jokingly adding, "...As long as you promise not to wreck my car or set it on fire when I get it back from the auto body shop next week."

Cassie's smile was fading with each passing second as Faye sat silently staring at her. She waited for her to say something, hoping like every other time lately when they had an argument or she ticked her off, her sincerely spoken apology would be enough. She really wanted to move past everything that had happened recently and for things to be back the way they were before the witch hunter's found them. Sure even then, her life wasn't exactly the smooth carefree existence she'd known before moving to Chance Harbor, but up until the point she'd fallen in love, it was a lot less complicated than it was now. Yet even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop herself from loving Faye.

Of course she didn't want to, Cassie thought. And there was no doubt in her mind that Faye felt the same way. She'd proven that much to her last night when they were saying goodbye...or at least trying to. She'd been standing on her front porch in the dark, hugging Faye goodnight...only Faye didn't want to let her go. She was kissing her and licking her neck sensually and reaching under her shirt, while her other hand snaked up under her skirt. Cassie had tried to contain her moans of passion when she began touching her in places her grandmother wouldn't approve, but as she continued, the pleasure had been too great for her to resist. Cassie smiled, remembering the feeling of Faye being inside of her while caressing her breast...and the sweet tender words she had whispered in her ear as she came.

Cassie looked up when Faye unexpectedly squeezed her hand back. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Last night," Cassie replied stroking her palm with her thumb. A blush was on her face, but it wasn't from embarrassment. "And how it's useless for you to be mad at me."

"Oh really?" Faye said as she stared at her impassively. "And why is that?"

Cassie looked back at her, staring straight into her hazel-green eyes. "Because you love me and you don't want to lose me."

Faye was silent for long moment and then she withdrew her hand from hers and shook her head. "That doesn't mean I can't be mad at you Cassie...In fact, that's why I get mad at you."

Cassie pursed her lips uncertainly, wondering what was wrong with her. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried not to, she always managed to do or say something to exasperate her girlfriend. And then just when she thought she wasn't going to forgive her, Faye reached for her as a slow smile spread across her face. Her girlfriend was drawing her into a hug when, for the second time that morning her uncanny ability came into play, though this time Cassie wasn't trying to hide what was on her mind whatsoever.

A warmth filled her heart and she sighed with relief but it quickly turned to contentment as Faye leaned in for a belated good morning kiss.

Several long and very enjoyable minutes later they were driving down the road, on their way to school when Faye looked over at Cassie and chuckled a little. "So is your grandmother making you eat those as part of your punishment for coming home late last night?"

"What?" Cassie asked distractedly and Faye looked down at the bag of crackers she was reaching into rather noisily and smirked.

"Melissa told me her uncle made her cousin Holden eat a dog biscuit once for tricking her into eating one." She raised her brow in thought. "But I guess your grandmother making you eat those as punishment wouldn't really fit the crime after all."

Cassie frowned in confusion until it finally registered what Faye was trying to convey. "Ha ha, very funny," she said with a roll of her eyes as she remembered the reason why she had been over an hour late getting home. And then she smiled to herself thinking how enjoyable it would be if the punishment actually did fit the crime. Although she wouldn't consider returning the favor a punishment at all. Punishment was supposed to be bad. Having sex with Faye would be more like a reward.

"You're thinking about having sex with me again, aren't you?" Faye asked with a smug look on her face. "You're such a horndog Cassie."

Cassie's eye's widened and she gasped in disbelief. "You're calling me a horndog? When you're the one trying to make a bad sexual joke out of me eating a bag of crackers?" She grinned as she pulled out another cracker from the bag, and before taking a bite said, "Which by the way still doesn't really relate to what Holden did to Melissa, because I didn't have to trick you into doing what you did to me last night."

"That's right you didn't. I really like eating you out."

Cassie paused from chewing for a moment with a twinge of embarrassment, grinning a little at the term Faye used for the pleasure she had so expertly given her the night before back at her house.

Faye chuckled at her slight discomfort, but then for whatever reason decided not to tease her anymore. "How long are you grounded for?"

Cassie swallowed her mouthful before answering and forced a smile to cover her sudden feeling of unease. "My grandmother was sleeping when I finally got inside, so luckily I didn't get in trouble for coming home past my midnight curfew." She shrugged. "So no grounding and no unpleasant food punishment."

Faye frowned. "Why _are_ you eating those stale things anyway? They've been sitting in your pantry for like...forever."

"They're not that bad," Cassie said and when Faye raised a brow at her as if asking her to explain further, she took another bite of cracker and chewed while she thought of what else to say. She didn't like outright lying to her, but she was pretty sure her grandmother wouldn't appreciate her telling other people the memory issues she'd been experiencing recently. "I grabbed them last minute. I got up a little bit later than usual , so I didn't have time for anything else."

As they came to a stop light, Faye studied her for a long moment before saying in a determined manner, "Well now you do. We can swing by McDonald's on the way."

"You don't have to do that. These are perfectly fine...Hey!" Cassie protested when, after the light turned green, Faye reached over and snatched the bag of crackers out of her hand. "Give that back. That's my breakfast."

"I don't think so," Faye said, rolling her window down as she headed through the intersection.

Knowing her girlfriend all too well, Cassie knew exactly what she was planning on doing. "Don't you dare." She glared at Faye in warning when she looked her way and rather cheekily laughed, but her hair blowing in the breeze, she held her arm out the window and released the bag. "Well that was really rude Faye," she grumbled in annoyance while brushing a few crumbs from her lap. "You do know that littering is against the law, don't you?"

"You break rules all the time Cassie," Faye replied.

Cassie turned to look at her. "Like when?"

"Like just last night," she said in an all too familiar mocking tone of voice. At her perplexed look Faye continued. "Nothing good ever comes after midnight. But you sure did."

Cassie blinked. She couldn't believe she'd used her grandmother's words against her like that. "You're such a brat sometimes," she said and when Faye merely laughed, she leaned over, making a childish effort to break another rule...to never distract the driver. A resounding slap echoed as her hand met Faye's thigh just below her skirt line.

"What the hell Cassie," Faye said no longer amused. "I was just joking...you didn't have to slap me."

Cassie frowned, unmoved. "I don't care. You deserved it for throwing my breakfast out the window."

"That really stung."

"Too bad so sad," she replied, although she really hadn't meant to slap Faye's thigh so hard.

"Well if that's the way you're going to be, you can buy your own damn breakfast," Faye said, using one hand to rub the sting away and the other to turn the steering wheel into the McDonald's drive-thru lane.

"Fine," Cassie finally relented after being on the receiving end of one of Faye's silent pouts for the length of time it took them to order their food and move up three car lengths. "I'm sorry for slapping you."

"No you're not. You're just saying that because you don't have any money to pay for your orange juice and breakfast burrito."

Cassie blinked her surprise, just now coming to realize that she'd left her purse at home. Damn it...And their car was next in line to pay for their food too. "So what do I have to do to prove to you that I'm sorry?" she said regretting it the moment the words left her mouth.

_A short time later...but not short enough for Cassie..._

"Here's your change," the young drive-thru attendant said with a silly grin on his face. "Your food will be ready shortly."

Faye managed to take the change from the guy even though she was more than a little distracted at the moment by what Cassie was doing to her. "Thanks, and take your time with the order. We're all good here. I'm just teaching my girlfriend a lesson."

Cassie raised her head a little to protest. "Seriously Faye? Is this how you treat a direct descendant of Balcoin?"" she said, and then thinking two could play at that game she lifted the hem on Faye's skirt a bit.

"Don't even think about it."

Taken aback at her tone, Cassie dropped her hand immediately and obediently continued her administrations. "Wow Faye," she said in a muffled voice a very long embarrassing couple of minutes later after the attendant gave them their food, snickering the whole time. "How many kisses does it take to make it better?"

Faye smirked as she pulled her Volvo out of the McDonald's and headed down the road. "I'll let you know when we get to school."

**A.N.** So this was mainly a fun chapter to catch up on the events that happened on the show Balcoin. I hope you liked it and that it tides you over until the second part of season one begins. Oh and Happy New Year!


	31. Chapter 31

**Authors Note**

Feeling a strong urge to get Cassie and Faye out of the awkward position I left them in, yet still need a little inspiration. Any suggestions where I should pick up the story? Email your ideas, desires and requests and I'll do my best to accommodate your needs.


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